BANGOR, Maine – The Greater Houlton Christian Academy girls’ varsity basketball team took an early 4-0 lead in the first three minutes of play Saturday night against Ashland, and though the Lady Hornets would keep things close, the Lady Eagles’ never trailed as they advanced to Thursday’s Class D Eastern Maine semifinal round with a 38-33 win.
“The girls had to overcome another dismal shooting performance and foul trouble,” said GHCA coach Terry Cummings. “We were getting good shots, but I think we are just a little anxious, pressing [our shots] a bit.”
The Lady Hornets knew going in that they’d have to keep senior guard Megan Korhonen quiet to pull out the win and sophomore guard Crystal Cook drew the unenviable duty of guarding Korhonen in a half-court, man-to-man defense. Though Cook held Korhonen relatively quiet with 13 points, Ashland couldn’t get their own offense ticking as they suffered eight turnovers in the first half.
GHCA pulled out to a 21-13 lead before halftime off a layup by Amanda Livezey while Ashland watched Whitney Flint draw her third foul. The junior guard showed her resiliency though, hitting a buzzer-beater near mid court from the left sideline to pull the Lady Hornets back within five.
The Lady Eagles effectively took Flint out of the defensive side of things 20 seconds into the third quarter as she picked up her fourth foul.
“I thought we might be able to extend the lead,” said Cummings when Flint was further hampered with fouls. “But, Megan picked up her fourth and the girls really had to pick up the slack.”
Ashland chose to gamble, leaving their quarterback in, knowing they needed her leadership and point-scoring ability. Hoping to not draw her fifth, Flint found herself having to stand straight up in the middle without much movement.
“We haven’t played without Whitney all year long,” said Ashland coach Bill Nemer. “We knew if we were going to be competitive, we needed to have her in there. Whitney’s a veteran, and she knew what she needed to do.”
In the third, GHCA’s Sarah Riopel shouldered the scoring with six baseline turnaround points, as GHCA opened a five-point lead by the end of the period, but the Hornets proved pesky, drawing within two behind a free throw by Mindy Chasse and a fast break basket by Cook with 4:45 remaining.
The Lady Eagles answered with a quick layup by Korhonen, who followed it up with a steal and a pass to Riopel for a three that pushed the GHCA lead back to seven at 34-27 with 3:37 left.
Chasse and Flint came alive once again for Ashland with Chasse hitting a turnaround jumper on the baseline and Flint coming back to split the defense, hitting the shot and drawing the foul.
The Hornets found themselves down three with just a minute remaining and fouls to give, but Flint drew her final foul with 38 seconds left, and Korhonen hit three foul shots down the stretch to give the Lady Eagles their final margin.
“I’m not sure many people expected us to win 13 games this year and I think it was a surprise that we made it to Bangor,” Nemer said. “We knew to beat Greater Houlton that we needed to rebound and Mindy and Whitney did a good job controlling the boards. We kept Korhonen pretty quiet, but we shot only eight of 19 from the free throw line and lost by five … I was proud of the kids and they way they played all year. We get 10 of 13 back next year and we have a good crew of freshmen coming up so I think we’ll be back next year.”
Ashland was led by Chasse with 14 points and 13 rebounds and Flint with 12 points and 10 rebounds. The Lady Hornets end their season at 13-7.
Other leaders for GHCA were Riopel with nine points and Chelsie Lord with seven rebounds. The team advances to meet Washburn Thursday at 2 p.m.
