Calais returns to final tonight O’Brien, Smith lead Devils by Woodland

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One year after missing the Eastern Maine Class C championship game for the first time in 12 seasons, the Calais girls basketball team is back in it.

And the route that the No. 2 Blue Devils took to get there couldn’t have been any sweeter – a 53-31 victory over No. 3 Woodland in Friday afternoon’s semifinal game at the Bangor Auditorium.

“It means double,” Calais senior guard Emily Smith said of beating Woodland in such a big spot. “They’re our rivals, so it was a big game.”

Calais, which split the annual regular-season rivalry with the Dragons, got 13 points from Danielle O’Brien for a berth in tonight’s regional final against No. 1 Dexter.

Coach Bob McShane’s Blue Devils, now 17-3, will face the undefeated Tigers Saturday at 7:05. It will be a rematch of the 2003 regional final in which Dexter beat the Devils 46-39.

Woodland wrapped up its season at 15-5.

Calais also picked up a stellar all-around effort from Emily Smith. She had 11 points to go with nine assists and seven steals. O’Brien had a team-high 10 rebounds and three blocks.

It was a Smith assist to O’Brien that got things started in the first quarter. Then, facing a Woodland zone defense, Smith hit a quick 3-pointer followed by a Tracie Eagan 3-pointer for an 8-0 lead.

Woodland’s Michelle Ferry passed inside to freshman Courtney Cochran for the Dragons’ first basket, but Calais had a 15-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

“We practiced their zone, we knew how to break it, but we’re a man-to-man team, so we knew what offense we could run to get all those points,” Smith said.

The Dragons cut the lead to six with 3:11 left in the second quarter when Cochran completed a conventional 3-point play, but Darcy Gillespie of Calais came off the bench for two 3-pointers in a row to make it 25-13. The Blue Devils went on to take a 27-19 halftime lead and outscored the Dragons 10-4 in the third quarter.

Gillespie provided a spark with her 10 points.

“We gained the momentum after that,” Smith said.

Calais played patient offensively, scoring 14 of their 23 baskets off assists.

The Dragons tried a box-and-1 with a defender on what Woodland coach Arnie Clark called a Calais “floater” – a player who runs from the corners to the high post to the wing. That meant the Dragons would target Gillespie or Courtney Taylor, who can usually contribute 12-15 points between the two of them, and hope their own offense would outscore the rest of the Calais team.

But Gillespie’s contributions hurt, as did the Devils’ penetration.

“We just thought if we could take those points away from them, we’d have a chance,” Clark said. “It didn’t matter because we didn’t score. We couldn’t score.”

Woodland had some success inside, where Cochran and Ferry led a 16-12 advantage in offensive rebounds. Cochran scored made five of her 10 field-goal attempts for 10 points and Ferry followed with nine. They had six rebounds apiece.

BLUE DEVILS 53, DRAGONS 31

Woodland (15-5) Calais (17-3)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Kochendrfr 0 2 1 2 1 Smith 4 10 11

Clark 0 1 0 0 0 Eagan 3 6 7

Gillespie 0 5 1 2 1 O’Brien 6 11 13

Torrey 1 5 2 4 4 Cobb 1 1 2

Ferry 4 11 1 4 9 Thomas 0 0 0

Sears 1 1 0 0 2 Seeley 1 1 2

Cochran 5 10 1 1 11 Mingo 0 3 0

Noyes 1 3 1 2 3 Gillespie 4 10

Sabattis 0 0 0 0 0 Brown 2 5 4

Bergin 0 2 0 0 0 Taylor 2 5 4

Totals 12 42 7 15 31 Totals 23 46 53

Woodland 7 19 23 31

Calais 15 27 39 53

3-pt. goals – Woodland (0-1): Noyes 0-1; Calais (4-10): Gillespie 2-2, Smith 1-5, Eagan 1-2, Taylor 0-1