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BANGOR – The Presque Isle girls basketball team has experienced the lowest of the lows and the highest of the highs at the Bangor Auditorium.
For two years in a row, the Wildcats left the Auditorium after losses in the Eastern Maine Class B quarterfinal despite entering the tournament as the top seed.
On Friday night, however, Presque Isle left the Auditorium as state champions.
Coach Jeff Hudson’s Wildcats struggled at times, but an 18-point effort from junior Angela Norsworthy, plus senior Katie Delong’s 13 points and 13 rebounds, paced Presque Isle to a 48-36 victory over Western Maine champion Lake Region of Naples.
Not only did Presque Isle leave the Auditorium with a gold ball, but the ‘Cats also knocked off the previous undefeated Lakers.
The Wildcats know the agony a team feels after losing the first game of its season in the playoffs. It’s a lesson that culminated for them Friday night.
“At this tournament, it doesn’t matter what your record is. Nothing matters,” Delong said. “It’s just that one game, and either you win or you lose. If you lose, you’re done. We had to keep working hard. We knew we had it in us.”
The state title is Presque Isle’s first since the Wildcats won a Class A title in 1997 and is their third overall.
Both teams end fine seasons with 21-1 records. The Wildcats’ only loss came against Class C Fort Kent in the final game of the regular season.
Presque Isle played a 2-3 zone for three quarters Friday, and the Lakers succumbed to the defense. They finished the game with 12 field goals on 56 attempts (21.4 percent), but coach Paul True said his team’s troubles were more defensive than offensive.
“We didn’t do a good job defending,” he said. “Katie Delong did a great job. … It wasn’t so much Norsworthy or the other kids as not being able to stop penetration from Delong. Delong just got to the paint way too much, which [meant we] had to help off other players.”
Presque Isle has played a lot of man-to-man defense this season, but the Wildcats felt the zone would slow down the Lakers. Both teams played a full-court press.
“We played it during the tournament and it really helped us out,” Norsworthy said. “We got lucky [with Lake Region’s poor shooting]. But our pressure was good.”
The Wildcats took charge during two second-quarter stretches.
A Moriah Morris basket off a Delong pass broke a 10-10 tie with 5:07 left and Presque Isle scored three straight baskets to take an 18-10 lead.
The Lakers answered with a free throw and two quick baskets, but the Wildcats poured in 10 points in the last 1:59 of the half, starting with Norsworthy’s conventional 3-point play and culminating in a Delong 3-pointer with 14.5 seconds left.
Norsworthy scored several baskets on her trademark baseline drive.
“Everyone calls that my signature move, and they gave it to me,” she said.
Lake Region’s Samantha Allen, who like Delong is a Miss Maine Basketball finalist, hit a 3-pointer in that stretch, but Presque Isle ended the half with a 28-18 edge.
The Lakers got the lead down to seven in the fourth quarter on a Kim Callahan drive with 4:14 left in the game. Callahan led Lake Region with 12 points and seven rebounds.
The Wildcats responded at the free-throw line with 8-for-12 shooting. Presque Isle was 18-for-26 in the game.
PI came out of its zone in the fourth quarter and Delong guarded Allen. The 5-8 guard fouled out with 2:09 left in the game after scoring 11 points.
The Wildcats had 16 turnovers against the Lakers’ man-defense but hit 14 of 28 field goals for a solid 50 percent.
Morris scored six of her eight points in the second quarter, while senior Kylan Smith scored five of her seven in the second. She opened that period with a 3-pointer.
“We all just did our jobs tonight,” Smith said. “It took all of us.”
WILDCATS 48, LAKERS 36
Lake Region (21-1) Presque Isle (21-1)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Leighton 1 4 0 0 3 Cash 0 0 0
Rivet 0 5 0 0 0 Michaud 0 0 0
Leach 0 0 0 0 0 Porter 1 2 2
Latsey 0 0 0 0 0 Clukey 0 0 0
McClean 1 6 0 1 2 Delong 2 3 10 13
Webb 0 0 0 0 0 Glovins 0 0 0 0
Nicholas 1 8 1 3 3 Smith 3 7 7
Morton 1 2 0 0 3 Watnncht 0 0
Callahan 4 7 4 4 12 Morris 3 5 8
Nowell 1 8 0 1 2 Moody 0 0 0
Allen 3 16 4 4 11 Norswrthy 5 11 8 10 18
Rowbothm 0 0 0 0 0 Braley 0 0 0
Totals 12 56 9 13 36 14 28 18 26 48
Lake Region 6 18 29 36
Presque Isle 7 28 36 48
3-pt. goals – Lake Region (3-11): Leighton 1-2, Morton 1-2, Allen 1-4, Rivet 0-2, Mowell 0-1; Presque Isle (2-3): Delong 1-1, Smith 1-2
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