BANGOR – The top-ranked Lee Academy girls’ basketball team has relied on senior Shelby Pickering for four seasons to give the Pandas a boost.

And even though Pickering led her team with 27 points and 15 rebounds in Saturday’s Eastern Maine Class D final, it was the play of two first-year players that made the difference in Lee’s 62-40 win over No. 3 Ashland.

“I don’t even need to have a good game,” Pickering said humbly after the game. “Somebody is always going to step up for us … all of them can score 10 or 15 points.”

Pandas’ freshman Aarika Ritchie scored 10 of her 11 points in the first half and classmate Karin Bird scored eight of her 10 in the second half to take some pressure off Lee’s star senior.

“If Shelby is available, she’s going to be our first option, but when things go wrong, she’s very unselfish,” Lee coach Ron Weatherbee said.

The win puts the Pandas – who remain undefeated at 21-0 – back in the Class D state championship, where they lost to Rangeley a year ago.

This year Lee will face Hyde of Bath, which won the Western Maine Class D crown Saturday, 39-27, over Valley of Bingham.

“We don’t care who we play, we’re just happy to be there,” Weatherbee said after the game – before he knew who his team was playing.

A 9-0 run by Lee early in the first quarter on Saturday put Ashland up against the wall early. Pickering dominated the first half, scoring 20 points on a variety of short jump shots and offensive rebound put-backs.

“Shelby is an incredible player, to ask my kids to stop her, that’s a tough assignment for anyone,” Ashland coach Ben Lothrop said.

The Hornets changed their defense in the third quarter to slow Pickering down and were able to cut into Lee’s 36-19 halftime lead.

“[Pickering] was killing us inside, but after halftime we were telling the guards out front to drop down and help out [on defense],” said Ashland junior guard Ashley Nemer, who led her team with 17 points.

The Hornets used a 10-3 run to reduce the Pandas’ lead to 43-32 late in the third quarter, but that was as close as Ashland got. Lee scored back-to-back layups to close the quarter and Ashland ran out of momentum.

“I was thinking if [our lead] went below 10 points, things might have got a little tougher,” Weatherbee said, “But we always seemed to have the answer.”

“I never want to say to these girls ‘we don’t have a chance’,” Lothrop said, “But getting down as much as we did, it’s hard to come out and play with that same fire.”

Ashland finished the year with an 18-3 record, but the Hornets return all but one starter for next year’s team.

“It’s hard for them to watch other kids cut down the nets, but I think my girls are saying ‘next year we want it to be our turn,” Lothrop added.

And – as Nemer pointed out – they won’t have to worry about Shelby Pickering in a Pandas’ uniform.

PANDAS 62, HORNETS 40

Ashland (18-3) Lee Academy (21-0)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Belskis 3 5 1 4 7 B. Harris 0 2

Chasse 1 6 4 5 6 Moore 1 4 2

Flint 2 8 1 2 5 Pickering 11 21 5 10 27

Nemer 6 13 2 3 17 Bird 2 5 10

Chamberlin 0 2 0 0 0 Gifford 2 8 4

Collins 0 1 0 0 0 Ritchie 3 6 11

Mayo 0 0 0 1 0 K. Harris 2 8 4

D. Long 0 2 0 0 0 Houghton 1 2

Peters 1 4 2 2 5 N.Jandreau 0 0

Ouellette 0 0 0 0 0 McLaughlin 0 0

Cray 0 0 0 0 0 As.Jndreau 0 0 0

Landry 0 0 0 0 0 Am.Jndreau 0 0

Boyd 0 0 0 0 0

M. Long 0 0 0 0 0

Hafford 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 13 41 10 17 40 Totals 22 57 16 26 62

Ashland 8 19 32 40

Lee Academy 18 36 47 62

3-pt. goals – Ashland (4-14): Flint 0-2, Nemer 3-8, Peters 1-4; Lee (2-5): Harris 0-1, Gifford 0-1, Ritchie 2-3