Hermon, Mattanawcook win prelims Lynx eliminate GSA behind height, depth

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LINCOLN – Things started out a bit on the sluggish side for the Mattanawcook Academy girls in their Class C preliminary playoff game Tuesday night, but thanks to dominant frontcourt play and a key effort off the bench, the Lynx are moving on to the Bangor Auditorium.

The sixth-seeded Lynx of Lincoln outrebounded and outshot No. 11 George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill to post a convincing 54-30 victory and secure a spot in next week’s Eastern Maine tournament.

Terri Thornton’s 12-7 Lynx will take on No. 3 Calais in a 9:35 a.m. quarterfinal game next Tuesday. A young GSA Eagles team wound up 5-14.

Mattanawcook used its size advantage to outrebound the Eagles 47-32 and also had a huge edge in shooting, 42 to 14.5 percent from the floor.

“I switched to a zone because we wanted to stop their cutters coming across and once we switched to that, we started to play much better, especially on defense, and get to the boards better,” said Thornton.

The Lynx also got a big spark from junior center-forward Hannah Reed, who hit three straight baskets after entering the game with 2:41 left in the first quarter. She made four of her first five shots.

“It’s not typical for me, but I was ready to play and I really wanted to win this game,” said Reed, who finished with 10 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots despite battling a nagging rib injury.

Senior center Kate Head also had a solid effort with 11 points, 11 boards, and a couple of assists.

“Coach said the big people had to really take control for us to win,” said Head. “It took us a little while to get going, but once we got going, we were OK.”

The Eagles led 8-6 but a 10-0 run gave MA the lead for good. After Brandi Winters hit a 10-foot jumper to break a four-minute scoring drought for GSA, the Lynx scored the next eight points to seize control with a 24-10 lead with 4:12 left in the first half. The Lynx led by at least 11 the rest of the way.

“We’re a very mental team, but if we’re all ready to play, this is the kind of game we usually have,” said Head.

Senior guard Courtney Gulesian scored 11 points and grabbed five rebounds for MA.

The Eagles had no scorers reach double digits, but senior guard Laurie Allen had eight points and four boards.

The Lynx had five players with five rebounds or more and five players with six points or more.

“I think we’re actually deeper now. We’ve got some kids on the bench who’ve really stepped up in practice and we can kind of go eight or nine deep now,” Thornton said.

LYNX 54, EAGLES 30

No. 11 GSA (5-14) No. 6 MA Lynx (12-7)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Nellis 0 4 0 0 0 Pietras 1 1 2

Moon 0 2 2 5 2 Oliver 0 0 0 0

Wardwell 0 0 0 0 0 Cousineau 1 8

Youcis 1 6 2 2 4 Littlefield 1 3

Roberts 2 7 0 0 5 H. Gulesian 0 0

Smith 0 1 0 0 0 C. Gulesian 5 10 0 0 11

Grindle 0 3 0 0 0 Reed 5 7 10

Winters 1 6 1 2 3 Sanderson 0 0

Rioux 0 0 0 0 0 Slike 3 10 6

Beardsworth 1 9 3 6 5 Keegan 0 4 3

Allen 2 11 2 2 8 Head 5 8 11

Haskell 1 6 1 2 3

Totals 8 55 11 19 30 Totals 21 50 11 16 54

George Stevens 8 15 17 30

Mattanawcook 14 28 39 54

3-pt. goals ? GSA (3-15): Allen 2-5, Roberts 1-4, Moon 0-1, Winters 0-1, Beardsworth 0-1, Nellis 0-3; Mattanawcook (1-3): C. Gulesian 1-2, Slike 0-1

Attendance: 300 (est.)