Woodland withstands Raider rally Dragons earn semifinal berth against a still-high-flying No. 2 Calais

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BANGOR – Arnie Clark has coached a lot of games at Bangor Auditorium. So, even with his youthful Woodland squad reeling Tuesday morning amidst a fiery second-half rally by Washington Academy, Clark chose to let the Dragons weather the storm.

Clark finally called a timeout with 1:34 left and No. 3 Woodland regained its composure while earning a 56-46 Class C quarterfinal girls victory over No. 6 Washington Academy of East Machias.

Woodland (15-4) takes on No. 2 Calais (16-3), a 61-39 winner over No. 7 Limestone/Maine School of Science and Mathematics on Tuesday, in Friday’s 2:05 p.m. semifinal.

In the opener, the Dragons built an 18-point bulge, then withstood a 14-0 fourth-quarter surge by the Raiders to beat them for the third time this season.

“I probably should have called a timeout earlier and changed what we were trying to do, but I really wanted them to play through it,” Clark said. “That’s good experience for those kids. What will make them ballplayers is working through those kinds of situations.”

Freshman guard Rachel Torrey paced Woodland with 13 points, five rebounds, and four assists. Classmate Courtney Cochran finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Michelle Ferry provided 11 points and nine rebounds.

Mary Mawhinney’s 11 points and 12 rebounds sparked Washington Academy. Megan Look had 10 points and eight rebounds, and Ashley Tilton added 10 points and five boards.

Woodland built a 29-14 halftime lead with an 11-1 run in the final three minutes of the second quarter. Torrey scored six points during the run.

The game appeared to be well in hand when the Raiders’ hounding man-to-man pressure created numerous turnovers that fueled a 14-0 flurry. Seven different players scored, including Sara Rushforth’s 19-footer that cut Woodland’s lead to 48-44 with 1:46 to play.

“We’re a young team,” Clark said. “They were very nervous coming in here.”

After the timeout, the Dragons converted eight of 14 foul shots down the stretch.

“We ran a play called ‘Cat,’ which is like slowing the ball down, and that helped get them to foul,” Ferry said.

In the second game, Calais used a 13-0 second-quarter scoring run to take a 17-point lead, then survived a second-half charge by the Eagles. Coach Bob McShane admitted his team wasn’t in sync after the loss of sophomore point guard Ashley Allen, who broke her neck Feb. 11 while sliding and is out for the tournament.

“Ashley Allen being out, that’s really hurt us,” McShane said. “We aren’t doing well pressing without her in there.”

While Calais wasn’t able to press as effectively and committed 28 turnovers, the Devils were too much for the Eagles.

Heady senior guard Emily Smith paced Calais with 15 points, seven assists and six steals. Danielle O’Brien contributed 10 points, nine rebounds, five blocked shots, four assists and two steals, while Courtney Taylor posted 10 points and five rebounds.

Darcey Gillespie and Jessica Brown each added eight points and six rebounds.

Anna Haller led Limestone with 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Lindsey Beaulieu tallied 12 points. The Eagles shot 20 percent from the field.

Calais took charge with a decisive 13-0 spurt during a span of 1:34 late in the first half.

O’Brien opened the run with a three-point play before Smith converted three straight fast-break layups and capped the third with a free throw. Taylor scored from underneath and O’Brien added a foul shot to give the Devils a 31-19 lead.

“The beginning of the game, it was awful, but once we got ourselves together it was OK,” said Smith, who admits the team is trying to compensate for the loss of Allen.

“She was a key player, so when we lost her, people needed to step it up,” Smith said.

Limestone battled valiantly in the second half but could get no closer than 13 points at 49-37 after three periods.

Calais slowed things down, ran its offense and scored 12 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to clinch it.

DRAGONS 56, RAIDERS 46

Washington Acad. (11-9) Woodland (15-4)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Rushforth 1 3 0 0 2 Gillespie 1 7

Mawhinney 4 12 3 5 11 Torrey 6 11 13

Tilton 3 7 4 10 10 Ferry 5 10 11

Wood 2 5 0 2 4 Cochran 3 9 5 10 11

Look 2 11 6 8 10 Murphy 2 5 0 4

Livingstone 2 4 0 0 5 Kochendrfer 4 12 0 1 9

Fritz 1 2 2 2 4 Noyes 0 1 1

Govoni 0 2 0 0 0 St. Pierre 0 0

Sprangers 0 1 0 0 0

Finn 0 1 0 0 0

Ashby 0 0 0 0 0

Huffman 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 15 48 15 27 46 Totals 21 54 13 27 56

Washington Acad. 10 15 28 46

Woodland 10 29 41 56

3-pt. goals – WA (1-5): Livingstone 1-2, Finn 0-1, Mawhinney 0-2; Woodland (1-1): Kochendoerfer 1-1

BLUE DEVILS 61, EAGLES 39

Limestone (12-8) Calais (16-3)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Weatherhed 2 7 0 0 4 Smith 7 12 15

Beaulieu 3 14 5 7 12 Eagan 2 5 4

King 1 6 2 3 4 O’Brien 3 6 4 10

Peers 1 8 2 6 4 Taylor 5 9 10

Haller 4 16 5 6 13 Mingo 4 7 8

Ahearn 1 2 0 0 2 Brown 4 5 8

O’Neal 0 2 0 0 0 Gillespie 2 4

Kelly 0 0 0 0 0 Seeley 1 1 2

Dunn 0 3 0 0 0 Thomas 0 0 0 0

Cousins 0 0 0 0 0

Allen 0 3 0 0 0

Mulherin 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 12 61 14 22 39 Totals 28 50 61

Limestone/MSSM 10 20 34 39

Calais 12 33 47 61

3-pt. goals – Limestone (1-9): Beaulieu 1-7, King 0-1, O’Neal 0-1; Calais (0-5): Eagan 0-2, Taylor 0-2, Gillespie 0-1