EAST MACHIAS – As the high school basketball regular season winds down, teams are scrapping for valuable Heal points – anything to gain an edge in the standings.

The Washington Academy girls basketball team did just that Thursday night, knocking off previously undefeated George Stevens Academy 48-35 at Gardner Gymnasium.

Although the 13-2 Raiders still have three games left, including one each against dangerous squads Woodland on Feb. 5 and Calais on Feb. 7, WA may have put itself in a position where it won’t have to play a preliminary game for the Eastern Maine Class C tournament.

“We know what we have to do to win,” said senior captain Kayla Wood, who scored 12 points. “We have to keep playing like we did tonight.”

The Eagles of Blue Hill, now 14-1, were the No. 5 team in the EM Class C Heal point rankings with 50.36 tournament index points. The Raiders followed at No. 6 with 49.44 points.

“It’s a ton of Heal points for us,” WA coach Gary Wood, Kayla Wood’s father. “It should put us up in that top three or four.”

Not only did the Raiders give themselves some momentum for the rest of the season, they also avenged a 64-60 overtime loss on Jan. 4.

Thursday wasn’t a perfect night for the Raiders – not offensively, anyway, although freshman Taylor Seeley came off the bench for a game-high 14 points. Defensively, however, Gary Wood couldn’t have asked for more out of his squad.

The Raiders forced 19 turnovers in the first half alone, limiting the Eagles to 13-for-45 shooting from the floor, and drawing enough fouls for two GSA starters to exit early. And the defense provided by senior captain Kayla Wood helped hold GSA standout Maddie Park to just five points. Park had 27 in the Jan. 4 matchup.

“When we played them in Blue Hill we realized that their offense pretty much went through her and they set a lot of screens to get her open shots,” Wood said. “Tonight we switched on all the screens and when we got caught we fought through them so she didn’t get any open looks.”

Turnovers helped spark two big first-half runs as WA worked its way back from a 13-11 first-quarter deficit.

The Raiders converted two steals in a row in the final minute of the period to take their first lead at 11-10, although Park put GSA back up with a conventional 3-point play.

The Eagles went up 18-17 when Kayla Eaton drove inside for a hoop with 3:40 left in the second but that was the last time George Stevens led. The Raiders went on a 9-0 run to take the lead for good as Wood hit a layup and drew a foul, converting a free throw for a 20-18 lead. She scored on an offensive rebound, which was followed by an Andi Flannery jumper and then a basket by Carilla Fritz, who finished with 10 points.

“When we cause a lot of turnovers we can get our running game going,” Kayla Wood said. “That’s when we play our best, when we run our fast break.”

Washington Academy extended its advantage to 39-24 late in the third quarter and was able to keep at least a 10-point lead the rest of the way.

“It wasn’t our lack of effort because we worked hard tonight, but we just didn’t come to play tonight and it showed in the little things,” GSA coach Donald Allen said. “Turnovers, missing easy layups, those things hurt us.”

Flannery finished with five points and racked up 16 rebounds. Seeley and Wood each had six boards and Bri Nicely had five.

WA outrebounded GSA 36-34 with 17 offensive boards to 12 for the Eagles. It made a difference as the Raiders were able to extend their possessions and take time off the clock.

“They’re a pretty aggressive team on the boards so we tried to box out,” Flannery said. “It worked for us tonight. We have to box out because we’re not tall.”

India Frazier led GSA with 10 points and nine rebounds. Regular starter Marina Van der Eb played limited minutes because of a foot injury she suffered in a recent game against Mount Desert Island.

jbloch@bangordailynews.net

990-8193

RAIDERS 48, EAGLES 35

George Stevens (14-1 ) WA Raiders (13-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Clapp 0 1 0 0 0 Espling 0 5 2

Davis 1 3 2 2 4 Nicely 1 5 4

Park 2 11 1 1 5 Seeley 5 7 4 14

E. Peake 0 1 0 0 0 Flannery 2 11 1 2 5

A. Peake 1 8 2 2 5 Smith 0 0 1

Van der Eb 0 0 0 0 0 Wood 4 14 10 12

Frazier 4 10 2 2 10 Fritz 4 10 10

Eaton 3 7 0 0 6 Price 0 1 0

Theoharids 2 4 0 2 5

Mattson 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 13 45 7 9 35 Totals 16 53 16 27 48

George Stevens 13 20 31 35

Washington Acad. 11 28 40 48

3-pt. goals – GSA (2-13): Theoharidis 1-2, A. Peake 1-5, Clapp 0-1, Park 0-5; Washington Acad. (0-5): Nicely 0-1, Espling 0-2, Fritz 0-2

JV: George Stevens 51-29

Attendance: 150 (est.)