GORHAM – An important part of coaching is strategy – especially at the end of games. When do you foul? When do you press?

When do you call timeouts?

The end of Saturday’s NCAA Division III women’s sectional final between the University of Southern Maine and Bowdoin College turned into a chess match, as USM coach Gary Fifield put it Saturday night.

The Huskies went on to win 56-53 but not before engaging in some late-game strategy.

It all happened with 15.8 seconds left and USM ahead 54-53. Bowdoin had the ball under Southern Maine’s basket, with Polar Bear standout Justine Pouravelis set to inbound to teammate Katie Cummings.

Fifield didn’t like what he saw – not one bit. It was the old box play, a play that Bowdoin had used twice against USM in the past two years. The goal of the box play is to get a post player a good look at a layup. For Bowdoin, that would have likely been Pouravelis.

So he called a 30-second timeout to talk it over with his team.

“We’ve gotten beat twice by this box play that they’ve run at the end of games,” Fifield said. “And that wasn’t happening again, where we’ve got suckered and they’ve been able to go over the top on us.”

Just what did Fifield see that he didn’t like? Before the referee even handed over the ball for the inbounds pass, the Bear players started cutting as if they were setting up the box play.

With the USM players prepared, the Huskies went back into the game. Senior Megan Myles wound up with a steal on a Cummings pass to Pouravelis.

Things turned out well for Southern Maine for the first time. Bowdoin used the box play effectively in a 59-55 “Sweet Sixteen” win over USM in 2004 and again the next fall with a 63-55 regular-season win.

Fifield was ready Saturday night. So was Bowdoin coach Stefanie Pemper, who called two timeouts herself to set the play and adjust her lineup.

“There was a little bit of chess going on there, in terms of showing one thing and playing something else, reading what their alignment was, [trying] to check them,” Fifield said. “It was just both coaches taking every opportunity they can to give their teams the best opportunity to win.”

Marble’s lucky shot

Outsiders have made a lot of Southern Maine’s big margins of victory this year and wondered how the Huskies would stand up to a close game such as Saturday’s 56-53 win over Bowdoin. Gary Fifield has the utmost confidence in his experienced lineup.

“These kids have been in a lot of close ball games over their careers,” he said, a bit irked that the issue was brought up during the postgame press conference. “They’ve all played state championship games. So they know how to react to time and score situations.”

Or do they?

Ashley Marble, a two-time Class D state champion with Woodland High who poured in 25 points for the Huskies Saturday, admitted with a laugh that she didn’t know the team was behind 53-52 with 1:12 remaining when she threw up an offensive rebound for a layup.

“I knew we were close,” Marble said sheepishly. “I don’t like to look at the score. I just listen to Coach. It’s true.”

It was a dangerous play because the physical forward already had four fouls.

“[A Bowdoin player] fell and I thought they were going to call it offensive, so I kind of just threw it up there and it went in,” she said. “… I thought that would have been my fifth, but it wasn’t.”