LINCOLN – Moments after her team’s biggest win of the season, Mattanawcook Academy girls basketball coach Terri Thornton sought refuge in the guidance office for a quiet moment to call her mother. There was little quiet in the halls outside the gymnasium, where parents, friends, school administrators – and even UMaine women’s basketball coach Sharon Versyp – stopped by to congratulate Thornton and her Lynx after the biggest upset of the Class C season so far.

A lack of height finally caught up with undefeated Calais in the Monday evening matchup. With the tallest Blue Devil player listed at 5-foot-8 (Morgan Drew), the Lynx pounded the ball inside to 5-10 Desirae Haines in the fourth quarter as fourth-ranked MA overcame an early seven-point deficit and knocked off No. 1 Calais 61-55.

Haines finished with 22 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter, to help the Lynx improve to 8-2.

The Blue Devils fell to 7-1.

“We took it to them. We played patient ball,” Thornton said. “We knew that they were small and when I saw that they couldn’t defend the inside, we went to Desirae, Kari Vance, and Kate Head off the bench.”

Neither Haines nor fellow senior Brandi Rideout (11 points) can remember ever beating Calais, which was the Eastern Maine Class C runner-up last year, state champ the year before, and Eastern Maine winner in 1998.

“Right from the beginning we knew we were going to be in this game,” Haines said.

The Lynx got down early, came back at the half and faltered again in the third as Calais took a 44-41 lead into the fourth quarter. With Rideout and Courtney Gulesian working to feed Haines and Kari Vance inside, MA fought back.

Haines scored on a short jumper early in the fourth to make it 44-43 in favor of the Devils. From there the Lynx went on a 6-0 run powered by a Haines basket off a Rideout pass, two Rideout free throws, and another Haines basket, this time from Gulesian, for a 49-44 lead with 5:17 to play.

Calais guard Lanna Martin was fouled while shooting a 3-pointer and made all three free throws to cut into Mattanawcook’s lead, but it wasn’t enough to stop MA’s post play. Haines and Vance each netted a basket off passes from Gulesian and Rideout, respectively, to go up 53-47 with 3:43 left.

Nanci Feck and Katie Frost scored for Calais in the final three minutes, but Haines made two more baskets and had two steals and MA’s Cassie Carver scored three points in the last two minutes to help seal the win.

Mattanawcook’s Vance, a 5-7 senior, grabbed 10 rebounds to go with six points. The Lynx also got solid inside help from 5-11 sophomore Head, who scored all six of her points in the second quarter.

“They just killed us inside,” Calais coach Bob McShane said. “We have to do a better job than that. We didn’t put a lot of pressure on their guards.”

Junior Lanna Martin led the Blue Devils with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Her sophomore sister, Crystal, added 12 points and six rebounds. Drew netted 10 points, all of it coming in the second half.

“They’re hard to stop,” Rideout said. “We just had to get in their faces.”

Not only were the Blue Devils dealing with a lack of height, but they’ve also played seven of their last eight games on the road.

MA gave Calais its toughest test since an early-season win over Class D Woodland. Since then the Blue Devils have won most of their games easily.

“I think we needed a loss,” McShane said. “The kids were getting a little lackadaisical and the shots weren’t falling. We couldn’t make a layup.”

Lynx 61, Blue Devils 55

Calais (7-1) Mattanawcook (8-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG F AF TP

C. Martin 5 9 2 2 12 Kyes 1 2 2

Frost 2 13 2 3 6 Rideout 2 8 6 11

L. Martin 4 14 5 6 13 Carver 5 9 14

Feck 2 9 0 1 5 Gulesian 0 3 0

Redding 3 5 2 4 9 Haines 11 16 0 22

Drew 5 12 0 2 10 Vance 3 5 0 6

Welch 0 0 0 0 0 Head 3 7 0 6

Totals 21 62 11 18 55 Totals 25 50 10 19 61

Calais 17 25 44 55

Mattanawcook 10 28 41 61

3-pt. goals: Calais (2-14): Redding 1-1, Feck 1-3, C. Martin 0-2, Frost 0-3, L. Martin 0-3, Drew 0-2; Mattanawcook: (1-2): Rideout 1-2

Attendance: 350 (est.)