PRESQUE ISLE – The first game of the annual Presque Isle/Caribou rivalry contests began as a battle but ended as a route as the Lady Wildcats outscored their opponents 29-6 in the second half to earn the 49-18 win.
“We came out after halftime and we knew we could play a lot better than we did in the first half,” said Presque Isle senior forward Angela Norsworthy. “Everyone helped out in the third quarter and we really stepped it up.”
Caribou came into the game at 0-6 but their record belied the closeness of games against tough teams like John Bapst and Hermon. The Lady Vikings had lost their previous four games by a combined seven points, a fact not lost on Presque Isle.
“We knew they’d played a lot of close games with a lot of really good teams,” Norsworthy said, “so we didn’t know what to expect. We didn’t know how good they were or how they play, so we just started thinking they’d be really good so we didn’t underestimate them.”
Coming off of two 30-plus point games, Norsworthy also knew the focus would be on her in the post and Caribou came out with a tough man-to-man defense. The Lady Vikings collapsed the pocket in the first half, triple teaming Norsworthy and holding her fairly quiet.
But the defending state champions simply went to their other weapons.
Sophomore forward Sarah Porter went to work from all points on the floor, driving baseline and hitting long twos and a three to help extend the Presque Isle lead to 36-14 by the end of the third.
“During practice coach [Jeff Hudson] stressed that teams are going to start triple teaming me,” Norsworthy said. “He said that the other girls have to step it up and I think they did tonight. If they can’t find me in the post or I get it and there’s too many girls down there, I have to kick it out, and they have to be able to make a move and make a shot.”
The Presque Isle defense also came alive in the second half.
After falling behind 2-0 in the early going, the Lady Wildcats switched from a 2-3 zone to man-to-man coverage and came alive with three minutes left in the first quarter. Porter grabbed two quick steals and the fast-break finishes to give the team a 7-2 lead.
Presque Isle continued to hold Caribou to minimal scoring chances behind 12 total steals in the first half.
“Usually we start out in zone just to see how the team plays,” Norsworthy said. “We thought tonight it would be easier for us to play man-to-an because of our quickness … We figured we could get more steals off a man defense.”
Though Caribou came within six in the opening minutes of the third, Presque Isle scored 16 unanswered points to put the game away by the end of the quarter.
“I think we’re one of the quickest teams,” Norsworthy said. “We can really run people off the court. That’s what happened against Foxcroft and that’s what happened again tonight. We got fast break after fast break.”
Norsworthy finished with 18 points, going 8-for-10 from the free throw line and pulled down 10 rebounds while adding four steals. Porter added 17 points, seven rebounds and three steals, and Kayla Legassie came up with five steals.
Karyn King put up eight points for the Lady Vikings and added eight rebounds.
With a 50-44 loss to John Bapst on Saturday the Lady Wildcats move to 6-2 on the season and into fifth-place in the Eastern Maine Class B girls’ basketball standings. Presque Isle travels to the coast this weekend for a Friday night game against Mount Desert Island starting at 7 and a Saturday afternoon game against Ellsworth starting at 12:30.
