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BANGOR – The Mount Desert Island girls basketball team dominated Caribou in their two regular-season games, but when the Vikings upset Camden Hills Saturday in the quarterfinals of the Eastern Maine Class B tournament, well, that made the Trojans think about their prospects against Caribou in Wednesday’s semifinal.
“It got us quite nervous, actually,” said MDI forward Tanya Kane. “It showed how much they’ve improved.”
MDI, the defending state champion and a No. 1 seed in the tourney, didn’t have anything to be nervous about. Kane scored 11 points to lead the Trojans to a 41-26 win at the Bangor Auditorium.
MDI will face Houlton, the No. 2 seed from the Northeast, in Saturday’s Eastern Maine final game.
Hannah Socoby led the Shiretowners (17-4) with 21 points as they knocked off previously undefeated Winslow 43-32 in the afternoon semi. The Black Raiders (20-1) had the top Southeastern seed.
Kane’s 11 points were neither a career nor season high, but MDI coach Burt Barker called the senior’s effort a breakout game.
“She was the only one that really came out with fire in her eyes and really wanted to go for it,” he said.
Both teams played zone defenses. Caribou went with a 3-2, while MDI played a 2-3 zone press.
Both teams were looking to limit the outside shot, and indeed, neither squad shot well. The difference came in the paint, where the Trojans put back some misses, drew fouls, and hit layups.
“It was more open underneath because of the 3-2,” Kane said. “They were pretty much trying to shut us down from the 3-point line, so we got a lot of inside shots.”
In the second quarter, all but one of MDI’s six field goals came off layups or offensive rebounds that were the result of working the offense.
Caribou coach Jeff Jose said he wanted to work the ball in to his taller players and then back out to his shooters.
“We were trying to get the ball inside so that we could open up Jess [Cyr, eight points] and Lauren [Hannigan] on the outside,” Jose said. “It was difficult. They were covering the perimeter shooters very well.”
MDI and Caribou went back and forth early, but the Trojans reeled off a 9-0 run in the first quarter for a 14-4 lead.
The Vikings held MDI point guard Bracey Barker to eight points but she grabbed 12 rebounds and had two blocks.
In the afternoon game, Socoby scored most of her points from the free-throw line, going 11-for-12 overall.
The senior guard’s play, including 10 rebounds, and Houlton’s 2-3 zone were big keys to the win.
The Shiretowners went with a zone primarily to stop Winslow’s dribble-penetration. Indeed, the Raiders had trouble getting inside consistently and struggled with their perimeter shooting (2-for-12 from 3-point range).
“We knew they liked to flash-cut in the middle,” said Socoby, who will play basketball at UMaine-Farmington next year. “We just tried to keep it packed in because we knew they weren’t the best outside shooters.”
Poulin was pleased with his team’s defensive effort, especially with Katie Flaherty on Socoby and Sarah Roderigue guarding Beasley.
Beasley (31 points in the quarterfinal) scored six points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.
Houlton’s Kasey Cleary, who had a big stretch of offense that helped the Shires pull away.
Houlton had a four-point lead when the 5-foot-1 guard hit a 3-pointer from the left wing with 2:45 left in the first half. She hit the first field goal of the third quarter (another 3-pointer to make it 22-13), and two possessions later she dribbled to just inside the 3-point arc and made a long-range jumper as the Shiretowners went up 24-13.
“They hurt us from distance,” Poulin said. “As a coach, if a team is going to beat you, make them beat you from 18 feet out. If they do, I tip my hat to them.”
Flaherty scored 13 points and had seven rebounds. Roderigue put in 10 points.
Socoby, who suffered a slight stress fracture in her foot last week, said she felt very sore in Houlton’s quarterfinal Friday but thanks to therapy is doing better.
SHIRETOWNERS 43, BLACK RAIDERS 32
Houlton girls (17-4) Winslow (20-1)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Beasley 1 8 4 7 6 Flaherty 5 12 2 5 13
Cleary 3 7 0 0 8 LaPointe 0 0
Goodrich 0 2 0 0 0 Morin 0 1 0
Brown 0 0 0 0 0 Byrne 0 4 0
Cole 3 6 2 2 8 Peters 0 0 0 0
Socoby 4 8 11 12 21 Bickford 0 0
Botting 0 0 0 0 0 Murray 0 0 0
S. Roderigue 4 9 10
B. Roderigue 4 16 9
McClarie 0 0 0
Totals 11 31 17 21 43 Totals 13 45 11 32
Houlton 7 19 28 43
Winslow 9 11 19 32
3-pt. goals: Houlton (4-11): Cleary 2-6, Socoby 2-2, Beasley 0-1, Goodrich 0-2; Winslow (2-12): Flaherty 1-3, B. Roderigue 1-9
TROJANS 41, VIKINGS 26
Caribou girls (10-11) MDI (20-1)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Bouchard 1 7 0 0 3 Boisvert 0 0
Harrigan 1 5 0 0 2 Gordius 0 3 2
Ouellette 0 1 0 0 0 Joy 3 5 7
Cyr 3 13 0 0 8 Horton 1 3 0 2
Burlock 0 4 1 2 1 Joseph 0 1 0
Drew 3 6 2 2 8 Willson 0 1 0 0
Willey 0 0 0 0 0 Gott 3 10 9
Selander 2 4 0 0 4 Barker 2 13 8
Collins 0 0 0 0 0 Kane 5 10 11
Walker 0 0 0 0 0 Norwood 1 4 2
Totals 10 40 3 4 26 Totals 15 50 12 41
Caribou 4 12 21 26
MDI 14 22 35 41
3-pt. goals: Caribou (2-11): Cyr 2-6, Bouchard 0-2, Harrigan 0-3; MDI (2-12): Gott 2-7, Gordius 0-1, Horton 0-1, Norwood 0-3
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