Panthers repeat as ‘B’ champs

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BANGOR – The Waterville girls basketball team knows what it takes to make a rally work. Last Saturday the Panthers rallied from a three-point halftime deficit in the Eastern Maine Class B final against Mattanawcook of Lincoln.

Waterville also needed a comeback Friday night against Lake Region of Naples in the Class B state championship game. One key defensive switch and a couple of made baskets later, the Panthers were right back in it and rolling.

Once again this season, junior Morgan Frame led the way as Waterville earned a 54-35 triumph over the Lakers at the Bangor Auditorium for the program’s second straight state crown and undefeated season.

“We had to play like champions, and we did it,” said Sarah Given, the only senior in Waterville’s starting lineup, who scored 11 points and had seven rebounds.

It was the 44th straight win for the Panthers.

Lake Region, which has won three Western Maine titles in a row, finishes at 19-3. The Lakers have been unable to win a state title in that run.

Frame finished with 14 points, keeping the Panthers in it from the free-throw line in the second quarter and then scoring three points in a 8-0 run at the beginning of the third quarter. She also had eight rebounds and three blocks.

Lake Region led by nine points twice in the first quarter, but Waterville worked its way back into the game with a switch from man-to-man defense to a 1-3-1 zone.

“We’ve been working on the 1-3-1 a lot in practice and it helps keep the middle compacted so that they can’t penetrate,” Given said. “We knew that was what they liked to do. We tried to get out on their shooters as much as we could because they shoot the 3 so well.”

The Panthers outscored the Lakers 31-10 in the second and third quarters combined.

Waterville didn’t shoot well in the first half, during which the Panthers went 5-for-21 from the floor. They were much better in the third quarter, however, going 9-for-12, which opened things up for Frame underneath.

“We knew we had to play our game and come out strong,” Given said. “The shots finally fell and that’s what made the difference in the game.”

Given scored all of her points in the second half. She drained a 3-pointer only 1 minute, 47 seconds into the third quarter to put Waterville ahead 29-20.

Sophomore Jen Nale added 12 points for the Panthers and Stephanie Whitten had eight points – all badly needed offense – as Frame got into foul trouble and spent stretches of the game on the bench.

So did Lake Region senior guard Renee Nicholas, who eventually fouled out but led all scorers with 16 points, nine of which came in the first quarter.

“I think the big turning point was when Renee picked up her second foul,” said Lake Region coach Paul True. “She was obviously huge and having her here next to me on the bench was a huge factor for us. And obviously we didn’t shoot the basketball very well.”

The Lakers made 14 of their 51 shots.

The game was scheduled for 7 p.m. but tipped off at 7:28 because the Auditorium staff had to deal with a leak in the roof that had water dripping on the floor. The drip was a few inches behind the free-throw line on the home team side of the court.

The teams came out for their warmups but were sent back to their locker rooms before the introductions, which eventually started at about 7:20. Two Waterville students were recruited by school athletic director Doug Frame to wipe the floor when the action was going on at the other end.

“I had to change my socks at halftime,” said Given, who was wiping her shoes off on her socks during breaks in action in order to gain more traction. “We were all struggling with the slipperiness.”

jbloch@bangordailynews.net

990-8193

PANTHERS 54, LAKERS 35

Lake Region (19-3) Waterville (22-0)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Leach 1 4 0 0 2 Tuttle 0 1 0

Hancock 2 7 1 1 6 Sta.Whttn 0 0

Morton 0 0 0 0 0 Gardiner 1 5

Webb 1 4 0 0 2 Pellerin 0 0 0

Nicholas 6 14 3 5 16 Ste.Whttn 4 8

Fitzgerald 0 3 0 2 0 T. Frame 0 0

Craffey 2 9 0 2 5 Nale 4 10 12

Meyers 1 6 0 1 2 Hart 1 2 2

Cutting 0 0 0 0 0 Rousseau 0 0

McClean 1 4 0 0 2 Smith 1 2 2

Reynolds 0 0 0

Given 4 10 1 11

M. Frame 4 11 14

Totals 14 51 4 11 35 Totals 19 50 13 19 54

Lake Region 16 20 26 35

Waterville 12 21 43 54

3-pt. goals – Lake Region (3-22): Nicholas 1-3, Hancock 1-5, Craffey 1-7, Leach 0-2, Fitzgerald 0-2, Meyers 0-3; Waterville (3-10): Given 2-4, Gardiner 1-2, Nale 0-1, Whitten 0-3