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BANGOR – It was a turnaround so unbelievable, even Calais’ own players weren’t sure how they’d just done it.
It looked like more of the same for the eighth-seeded Blue Devils in Tuesday night’s Eastern Maine Class C quarterfinal at the Bangor Auditorium. Calais had lost both games against unbeaten top seed Washington Academy of East Machias by a combined 41 points, and after committing 13 turnovers in the first quarter and trailing by as many as 14 points in the first half, it didn’t look good.
That was before senior forward Lindsey Mingo decided she didn’t want to end her final varsity basketball season with another blowout loss to WA and scored eight points to lead a game-changing 16-0 run in the third quarter.
The revived and rejuvenated Blue Devils then held on in a wild fourth quarter to hand the Raiders their first and last loss of the season, 58-53.
The 14-6 Blue Devils will take on No. 5 Penobscot Valley of Howland in a 3:35 p.m. semifinal on Friday.
“We got creamed by them… I mean smoked,” said Calais guard Courtney Hill. “I think we were just really nervous.”
Hill and Mingo led the Blue Devils balanced scoring as they made everything that went wrong for them in the first half go right in the second.
“We tried to make better passes, cut down our turnovers and control the tempo of the game more,” said Hill, who had 18 points, six steals and four assists. “We made waaayyyy too many turnovers that first half. We knew we could do a lot better than that.”
She was right, and she certainly did her part. The sophomore looked like a senior captain as she calmly made eight of 10 from the line – five of six in the fourth quarter – to help her Devils hold off the Raiders.
The game-changing run turned a 28-17 WA lead with six minutes left in the third into a 33-28 Calais lead with 1:25 left in the quarter.
After making 16 turnovers in the first half, Calais made just seven in the second. Meanwhile, the Raiders, who turned the ball over 11 times in the first half, suddenly lost the handle and committed eight of their 13 second-half turnovers in the third quarter.
“We really controlled the tempo the first half, but didn’t score as much as I’d like,” said coach Gary Wood, whose Raiders finish 18-1. “Then they came out and played with more intensity, getting the rebounds and the loose balls.”
The Raiders had three starters (Ashley Tilton, Andi Flannery and Kayla Wood) foul out in the fourth. Calais lost two (Tessa Clark and Jessica Brown) as 30 fouls (17 on WA) were called in the second half.
Mingo was invaluable for the Devils with 14 points, nine rebounds and a sparkling defensive effort on Tilton, who had just two points on free throws in the first half and didn’t score her first basket until there was 3:44 left in the game. Tilton had 10 points and four boards before fouling out with 1:59 left.
Senior guard Ashley Allen and sophomore forward Kelli Cross scored 10 points apiece for Calais. Cross also had eight rebounds to fuel an effort on the boards in which Calais held its own against the bigger Raiders with 33 rebounds to WA’s 37.
Junior guard Kayla Wood led WA with 19 points, six rebounds and four steals. Megan Look (10 points, six rebounds) and Lauren Finn (seven points, eight rebounds, four assists) also contributed.
Calais rebounded from a 20 percent (4-for-20) shooting effort from the field in the first half by hitting 12 of 22 (54.5 percent) in the second.
BLUE DEVILS 58, RAIDERS 53
Calais (14-6) Wash Acad. (18-1)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Hill 4 11 8 10 18 Corey 1 1 0 2
Mingo 5 12 4 7 14 Finn 3 8 7
Clark 1 4 1 2 3 Flannery 1 3
Allen 3 6 3 4 10 Sprangers 1 2
Cross 2 6 6 11 10 Tilton 3 9 10
McVicar 0 0 0 0 0 Wood 5 12 12 19
Beaton 0 1 0 0 0 Fritz 0 7 0
Brown 1 2 1 2 3 Look 3 10 10
Totals 16 42 23 36 58 Totals 17 51 17 25 53
Calais 4 14 35 58
Washington Acad. 9 24 32 53
3-pt. goals – Calais (3-9): Hill 2-3, Allen 1-2, Clark 0-1, Mingo 0-1, Cross 0-2; Washington Acad. (2-9): Finn 1-4, Wood 1-4, Tilton 0-1
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