Houlton Pioneer Times photo/Joseph Cyr
WARRIORS’ SPIRIT — Showing their support for the Southern Aroostook girls basketball team at last Wednesday’s Eastern Class D semifinal game are members of the Warriors boys basketball team from left, Scott McDonald, Nick Tarr and Anthony Diaferio. The Warriors fell to Fort Fairfield.
By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
BANGOR– Southern Aroostook’s aggressive defense caused problems for Fort Fairfield throughout the first half of Thursday’s Eastern Maine Class D semifinal tilt.
Many of the Tigers’ 25 turnovers came during the first 16 minutes of play, and Southern Aroostook took the early lead on Jasmine Rockwell’s three-pointer 2-1/2 minutes into the game and maintained the advantage throughout the remainder of the half.
However, the aggressiveness on the defensive end also led to numerous fouls, and that turned out to be the decisive factor as the No. 2-seeded Tigers were able to pull out the 51-42 victory over the third-ranked Warriors.
Even though SA led 15-14 at halftime, Fort Fairfield coach Larry Gardner told his team not to panic.
“I told the kids that we hadn’t played very well and we were only down by one,” Gardner said. “I said we had to start limiting our turnovers and stop missing easy shots.”
Gardner also started to employ a triangle-and-two defense after intermission, “and I think that picked us up a bit,” he said.
Individually, Fort Fairfield sophomore Amanda Hotham proved to be the difference. She drew a majority of the SA fouls and ended up going to the foul line a total of 20 times. She powered in five field goals, hit an unexpected three-pointer at the end of the third to give her team a 32-27 lead at that point, and connected on 14 of her attempts from the free throw stripe to almost single-handedly control the game.
“We had no answer for her,” said SA coach Cliff Urquhart. “She played as tough as she could play.”
Hotham was responsible for getting Warrior players in foul trouble, and in fact three ended up fouling out. But Hotham herself played with three fouls throughout the third quarter and picked up a fourth early in the final period.
“I didn’t want to be less aggressive because I didn’t want to give up any points,” Hotham said.
The sophomore standout actually missed four of her first five free throw attempts in the contest. “At the beginning of the game, I was nervous and not focusing on the rim as much,” she said. “Coach told me to relax and do my normal thing.
“I practice every day, and that helps, plus I just got in a rhythm.”
That rhythm led to 13 consecutive successful shots at one point for Hotham, who won a free throw competition earlier this winter that has her representing the North region in the upcoming McDonald East-West Senior All-Star Game free throw contest.
Pioneer Times photograph/Joseph Cyr
OVER THE ‘D’ – SACS’ Liz Goodall puts the ball in over Fort Fairfield’s Courtney Churchill during last Thursday during the Class D semifinal at the Bangor Auditorium.
Hotham finished with a game-high 27 points and also hauled in 17 rebounds.
“Getting the ball to Amanda obviously is key for us,” Gardner said. “We knew she was going to be quicker than their bigs inside.”
Fort lost starting point guard Courtney Churchill after her head hit the floor with approximately two minutes left in the third quarter. She was forced to sit out the rest of the game, but the Tigers were still able to do a solid job avoiding miscues on the offensive end. They kept getting the ball into the hands of Hotham, who often delivered.
“When you are in foul trouble, it’s just tough all the way around,” Urquhart said. “We go eight deep, but losing Shelby Hartin, Liz Goodall and Evangeline Goodall, that took the heart out of us right there.”
Liz Goodall scored 10 points and Lauren McGary pitched in with eight for SA, who finished at 16-3.
Gardner was proud of the way his team battled throughout the game.
“We did a good job of finishing the deal, and that was pretty special,” he said. “For them to keep their composure as well as they did, considering the circumstances, I couldn’t have been prouder.”
To complement Hotham’s effort, Danielle Tracy scored 10 points, including a 7-of-10 effort from the foul line, and Brooke Beaulieu had nine points and nine rebounds.
