Morse holds off Skowhegan; Cony advances

loading...

AUGUSTA – The Skowhegan girls basketball team was poised to pull off its second upset of postseason play Friday afternoon – but Jill Henrikson wouldn’t allow it.

The 5-foot-9 senior guard scored 32 points, including the go-ahead three-point play with 3.3 seconds left, to lead No. 2 Morse of Bath to a 49-46 victory over the 10th-ranked Indians in an Eastern Maine Class A quarterfinal at the Augusta Civic Center.

Morse (16-3) advances to play No. 3 Cony of Augusta in Wednesday’s semifinals. Cony (17-2) advanced with a 48-40 victory over No. 6 Brunswick.

Skowhegan, which defeated No. 7 Edward Little of Auburn in the preliminary round, finishes its season with an 11-9 record.

Morse had possession of the ball with 14.3 seconds left and the game tied. The Shipbuilders inbounded the ball and worked Henrikson off a double-screen at the free-throw line.

That enabled her to beat her defender, and Henrikson then cut into the lane where she took a pass from Maggie Smith and scored while being fouled. She added the free throw after a Skowhegan timeout, and the Indians did not get off another shot before time expired.

Henrikson made 12 of 15 free throws during the game.

Skowhegan, which trailed just 27-26 at intermission, led by as many as four points during the third quarter and held a 44-42 lead when Ashley Matchett made two free throws with 2:04 left in the game.

But Henrikson, who scored 19 points after intermission and 11 in the fourth quarter, tied the game by scoring on a follow-up of her own miss, then converted a steal by teammate Tarra Burr into a layup that gave the Shipbuilders a 46-44 lead with 1:22 left.

Skowhegan tied the game with 20 seconds to play when Matchett drove into the lane and fed Katye Milligan for a layup – Skowhegan’s only field goal of the final period.

Kaley Brown, a 6-foot junior forward, led Skowhegan with 12 points.

In the first game, Rachael Mack scored 16 points for Cony and Shelby Pelkey added 14 points.

Claire Baecher led Brunswick with 10 points.

(First Game)

Brunswick (13-7) 40

Artis 3-1-7, Baecher 5-0-10, Kelly 1-2-4, Halmo 1-6-8, Champagne 2-0-4, Dearborn 2-0-4, Suckow-Maines 1-0-3, Roy, George, E. Bryant

Cony (17-2) 48

Pelkey 3-6-14, Belamer 3-0-6, Mack 4-8-16, Ford 3-0-9, C. Dufour 1-0-3, Parker, M. Dufour, Burney

3-pt. goals: Suckow-Maines; Ford 3, Pelkey 2, Dufour

Brunswick 2 20 28 40

Cony 14 25 37 48

(Second Game)

Skowhegan (11-9) 46

Brown 4-3-11, Davis 1-0-3, Atkinson 1-1-4, Matchett 2-2-7, Smith 1-0-2, Milligan 3-2-8, Noddin 1-0-2, Lambert 1-0-2, Jones 1-5-7

Morse (16-3) 49

Henrikson 10-12-32, Morong 1-0-2, Burr 2-0-4, Fitzgerald 2-0-4, Suggs 1-0-2, Dickinson 1-1-3, Rouillard 1-0-2, Skillings, Dube, Hennessey

3-pt. goals: Davis, Atkinson, Matchett

Skowhegan 10 26 36 46

Morse 13 27 37 49