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BANGOR – The relief and excitement were palpable.
Whether it was Presque Isle coach Jeff Hudson or Mount Desert Island junior Lindsay Lewis, the two teams that advanced to the Eastern Maine Class B semifinals Saturday afternoon at the Bangor Auditorium were both eager to move forward.
For Hudson and the No. 1 Wildcats, it was ending a two-year streak of losing in the quarterfinals despite being the top seed. Presque Isle picked up its 19th win with a 46-31 victory over pesky No. 9 Belfast.
“It’s a relief,” Hudson said. “It’s a big relief.”
And for the No. 4 Trojans, it was avenging a loss to the No. 5 Black Raiders in last year’s regional final. MDI needed overtime but held on for a 57-53 win.
Presque Isle and MDI will face each other Wednesday at 8:35 p.m.
The Trojans clawed back from a 38-31 deficit at the start of the fourth quarter, whittling Winslow’s lead to 47-45 with less than a minute to go. A series of turnovers and timeouts left MDI with 3.9 seconds to make a play.
After a timeout, Amber Orman (18 points) inbounded the ball under the basket to Lewis, who drained a 16-foot jumper from the left side with less than two seconds to go.
“I shot it and it just went in. And I was really excited,” said Lewis, who also finished with 18 points. “… It was a set play. [Coach Chip Taylor] wanted me to shoot it.”
Winslow took the lead in overtime, but after 6-foot-2 Raider center Stephanie Bossie fouled out, the Trojans went on a 10-2 run. MDI was already without 6-0 center Sue Falt, who also fouled out.
“I was very relieved [Bossie was gone] and I think everybody else was, too,” Lewis said.
Winslow had a key turnover when Amanda Lapointe was called for an offensive foul after she jump-stopped for a basket in the lane with 8.4 seconds left. Winslow coach Brenda Beckwith was assessed a technical foul and Lewis made two free throws to seal the win.
The Black Raiders had six turnovers combined in the fourth and overtime periods.
“We didn’t handle the ball. We threw the ball out of bounds with 32 seconds left to go,” said Beckwith, who replaced coach J.R. Richards four games into the season. “Those are the things that you kind of look back and go, ‘Why are you complaining, because you set yourself up for that.’ I understand that. I just thought that was a poor call.”
Bossie finished with 23 points and 15 rebounds.
Winslow was without 2005 all-tourney forward Ashley Carter, a 6-foot senior forward whom Beckwith said quit the team Friday.
MDI won two games in last year’s tourney on last-second shots.
“We just have it,” Lewis said. “We’re tough.”
Brianne Records added 11 points for MDI.
Presque Isle got 15 points from 5-10 center Angela Norsworthy and another 11 from point guard Katie Delong as the Wildcats’ zone defense proved too much for the Lions.
Strategy went by the wayside, however, as Presque Isle savored its first tourney win at the Auditorium since 2000.
“It’s just amazing,” Delong said. “I’d never known what it was like to win on that court, and it was amazing.”
Presque Isle’s Kylan Smith added 10 points.
Presque Isle outscored Belfast 19-5 in the second quarter. Delong, who spent much of the first quarter in foul trouble on the bench, scored eight points in the first 41/2 minutes of the second.
The Wildcats were up by 14 points at the end of the third but the Lions scored seven in a row to open the fourth. They nearly made it eight when Jillian Ross (15 points) was fouled while making a 3-pointer, but she didn’t convert.
Belfast made one more basket in the rest of the quarter.
Presque Isle, traditionally a man-to-man defensive team, went to a 2-3 zone because of foul trouble.
“I credit my team for showing the guts to do that,” Hudson said. “That’s not an easy thing to do.”
Belfast coach Ted Rioux said the Lions’ inability to score against the zone was surprising.
“Our defensive effort was there,” he said. “We just couldn’t seem to run our regular zone offense the way we wanted to and had to make an adjustment and go to something we were not used to doing, and that hurt us.”
WILDCATS 46, LIONS 31
Belfast (11-9) Presque Isle (18-1)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Littlefield 0 0 0 0 0 Cash 0 0 0
Cummings 1 4 0 0 2 Michaud 0 0 0
Ross 5 13 4 6 15 Porter 1 5 2 4
Whittier 2 2 0 0 4 Clukey 0 0 0
Reed 0 4 2 2 2 Delong 4 11 2 11
Read 1 2 0 0 2 Glovins 0 0 0 0
Ellis 0 0 0 0 0 Smith 2 4 11 10
Hills 2 4 0 0 4 Watnncht 0 2
Blair 0 0 0 0 0 Morris 2 3 4
Hogan 0 1 0 0 0 Moody 0 0 0
Flagg 0 4 2 2 2 Nrswrthy 6 13 3 7 15
Totals 11 34 8 10 31 Totals 15 37 15 26 46
Belfast 9 14 22 31
Presque Isle 9 28 36 46
3-pt. goals – Belfast (1-10): Ross 1-2, Cummings 0-1, Read 0-1, Reed 0-3, Flagg 0-3; Presque Isle (1-9): Delong 1-4, Morris 0-1, Porter 0-2, Smith 0-2
TROJANS 57, BLACK RAIDERS 53 (OT)
Winslow (14-6) MDI (16-3)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Cheesman 1 4 0 0 2 Young 1 2 2
S. Pelletier 0 2 0 2 0 Records 5 9 11
Lapointe 4 11 7 9 15 Banks 0 0 1
Bossie 9 15 5 10 23 Lewis 6 16 18
K. Pelletier 0 3 2 2 2 Orman 5 11 18
E.Richards 2 5 0 0 6 K. Vaux 1 5 7
Libby 0 7 5 8 5 Falt 0 3 0
Totals 16 47 19 31 53 Totals 18 46 17 28 57
Winslow 14 25 36 47 53
MDI 5 16 31 47 57
3-pt. goals – Winslow (2-4): E. Richards 2-4; MDI (4-13): Orman 3-5, Lewis 1-5, Records 0-3
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