AUGUSTA – For a few days last week, Dana Houghton lingered in the Lee Academy gym for a little longer than her teammates while the 5-foot-8 senior forward worked on her shooting.

All her extra gym time came in handy Wednesday night in the Class C state championship game at the Augusta Civic Center. Houghton had 12 points in the 59-47 win over Madison – points the Pandas needed as they pulled away from the Bulldogs.

“I was not surprised and I was very pleased to see it,” Lee coach Ron Weatherbee said Wednesday in the moments after the team received its third gold ball in four years. “We’ve done a lot of work shooting in the gym as a team in the last week and a half. Then she went in and did extra and that made a difference tonight. She shot well all night.”

She was also one of three Lee players to register a double-double with her 10 rebounds.

Houghton went 6-for-16 from the floor and hit three of four shots in the third quarter to help the Pandas erase a 24-21 deficit early in the period.

It was the manner in which Houghton scored that stood out. It wasn’t that the tallest member of the team stuck inside trying for layups. She hit a variety of mid-range pull-up jumpers off passes that were kicked out from players such as Amanda Gifford and Karin Bird who dribbled inside and looked for the open teammate.

Lee’s dribble penetration hurt the Bulldogs all night. The Pandas were able to get a couple of 3-pointers that way, too.

“They did drive to the basket, dish it out, and when they’re hitting those 3’s they’re very good,” Madison coach Al Veneziano said.

Houghton’s extra work went something like this: She would go into the gym and have to make 20 shots from one spot on the floor before she could move to the next spot. She did that three or four times this week.

“I think that helped a lot. I haven’t shot like that, probably, in my whole high school career,” Houghton said after the game. “But I’ve just been going to the gym and working. I just shot it, they were going in, so I kept it up.”

Super substitute Laci McLaughlin had a good night off the bench, scoring four points to go with six rebounds. Both of her field goals came in the third quarter, too.

While the Pandas were celebrating their gold ball Wednesday night, Houghton said someone else was on their minds.

Sarah McLain, a 14-year-old from Springfield who was killed in a lightning strike on July 20, 2003, would have been a senior this year.

McLain was hit by lightning during a youth soccer game in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

“We kept Sarah in the back of our minds,” Houghton said. “We do all this for her because if she was here she’d be with us, cheering with us and helping us win. We were all pretty close to her.”

jbloch@bangordailynews.net

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