Meassalonskee finishes strong, beats Mt. Blue No. 1 Cony buries Lewiston

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BANGOR – The Messalonskee girls basketball team started out slow in the first half of Saturday evening’s Eastern Maine Class A quarterfinal, but by the time the No. 5 Eagles got things heated up in the third quarter, they ran away with a 50-34 victory over No. 4 Mt. Blue at the Bangor Auditorium.

Fraternal twin sisters Chelsea Barker and Amanda Barker combined for 27 points to boost Messalonskee of Oakland into Thursday’s semifinal round, where the Eagles will face No. 1 undefeated Cony of Augusta.

The Rams got 21 points from sophomore Cassie Cooper and rolled to a 67-50 victory over No. 8 Lewiston in Saturday afternoon’s quarterfinal.

Cony and Messalonskee will meet Thursday at 8:35 p.m.

In the evening game, Chelsea Barker scored eight of her game-high 15 points in the third quarter as Messalonskee scored 10 unanswered points for a 23-16 lead.

The teams were tied 13-13 at halftime but Messalonskee went on a 12-0 run in the third for a 25-16 lead. Christina Mosher ended the run with a basket off a pass from Amy Mansir, cutting the lead to seven points.

But the Eagles scored nine unanswered points, including an Ashley Busque 3-pointer and a Chelsea Barker jump shot with two seconds left.

“We have a third-quarter curse, as you saw,” Mt. Blue coach Jeannine Paradis said. “Sometimes we come out flat in the third quarter and tonight it hurt us.”

Messalonskee’s zone press – along with some jitters – caused 24 Mt. Blue turnovers in the first three quarters.

Chelsea Barker, who had six steals, said the Eagles had success with their zone press in the teams’ regular-season meeting, a three-point Mt. Blue win.

“We just knew defense was gonna win it, didn’t worry about our offense, we just picked up the intensity after [halftime] and took it away,” she said. “We know that the first few minutes of the quarter are the most important and we just came out of the locker room with intensity and tried to take them our of the game.”

Jenna Lettenberger had eight rebounds for Messalonskee. The 6-foot-3 Mosher led the Cougars (16-4) with 10 points and nine rebounds.

“We knew we had to pressure the ball, give them a hard time throwing the ball into Mosher because she’s a force in the paint,” Chelsea Barker said.

In the afternoon game, Cony sophomore Cassie Cooper poured in 21 points, including 14 in the first half, as the defending Eastern Maine champion Rams (19-0) rolled out to a 45-15 lead over Lewiston.

Cony put the game away early – the Rams were up 10-0 almost three minutes into the game – which made it hard for Lewiston to mount a comeback.

The Blue Devils outscored Cony 14-12 in the third quarter thanks to nine points from Tracy Bradley, who had 20 points and 10 rebounds. Lewiston also had a 22-10 scoring edge in the fourth.

“We try to come out strong and prove a point right out in the first quarter, but I think also coming back strong in the second half to prove a point is good too and I don’t think we did that tonight,” said senior star Katie Rollins, who 16 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.

“We kind of rested back on our lead and we lost a good lead right in the second half,” she added.

But it was still too much for the Blue Devils to overcome.

Lewiston had tried to pack it in to stop the 6-2 Rollins, but three different Cony players, including the 6-2 Cooper, hit 3-pointers in the first quarter.

“We tried to play down low with her and stack it, but they hit the first five or so possessions in a row from all over the place and we were missing,” Lewiston coach James Hood said. “… We need to stay in a four-, six-point game that we can always come back a little but they built a big lead up.”

RAMS 67, BLUE DEVILS 50

Lewiston (12-8) Cony (19-0)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Anthoine 3 8 0 0 8 Mason 3 7 7

Morin 0 5 0 1 0 B. Rende 2 10 1 2 5

Bradley 8 12 3 3 20 Tyler 0 1 0

Long 0 6 5 6 5 Albert 0 0 0 0

Willey 1 3 2 2 5 Doak 0 2 0

Pike 0 0 0 0 0 Nimon 2 5 0 5

Coleman 0 3 2 2 2 Cooper 8 15 21

Varney 1 4 1 4 3 Cloutier 1 2

Bechard 1 1 4 6 6 Mack 3 7 8

Hunt 0 0 1 2 1 Henderson 0 0 0

Pelkey 0 2 3 3

Rollins 7 12 2 16

Totals 14 42 18 26 50 Totals 26 64 12 24 67

Lewiston 5 14 28 50

Cony 23 45 57 67

3-pt. goals – Lewiston (4-10): Anthoine 2-6, Bradley 1-2, Willey 1-2; Cony (3-14): Mason 1-3, Nimon 1-4, Cooper 1-4, Pelkey 0-1, Rende 0-2

EAGLES 50, COUGARS 34

Messalonskee (16-4) Mt. Blue (16-4)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

C. Barker 7 17 1 2 15 Moloney 0 2 0

Busque 3 9 0 0 7 Laney 2 9 5

A. Barker 4 10 3 6 12 Weeks 1 5 2

Oliver 2 4 0 0 4 Mansir 2 13 7

Bridges 1 5 0 0 2 Mosher 4 6 10

Lettenberger 3 8 1 2 7 Silkman 2 4 8

Duren 1 1 1 2 3 Fournier 1 2

Robbins 0 2 0 0

Tuttle 0 0 0 0

Totals 21 54 6 12 50 Totals 12 42 11 34

Messalonskee 6 13 34 50

Mt. Blue 2 13 18 34

3-pt. goals – Messalonskee (2-8): Busque 1-1, A. Barker 1-4, C. Barker 0-3; Mt. Blue (3-16): Mansir 2-8, Laney 1-6, Weeks 0-1, Robbins 0-1