Hodgdon, Washburn and Limestone on the radar
By Gloria Austin
Staff Writer
The Southern Aroostook girls rallied to defeat visiting Central Aroostook, 59-58, on Monday night in Dyer Brook to give them a needed boost.
“That was a barn burner, “ said Southern Aroostook coach Harris Tucker.
Tucker told his squad when foul trouble began to mount to hold off the press.
“I knew the press would work [CAHS] up. They get a little jitter and turn the ball over,” he added. “I wanted to wait until about the middle of the fourth before I put it back on.”
Pioneer Times photograph/Gloria Austin
POSITION — Hodgdon’s Jennah Steamer shoots the ball over SACS Mataya Hartin.
Tucker feels that the pressure was what turned the game.
“They started to turn the ball over as they were getting a little frustrated,” he said. “My girls worked hard. They never gave up and I am proud of them for that.”
The Panthers held the edge, 9-8, after the opening quarter, but Southern Aroostook was able to take a halftime advantage of 30-28.
The score was tied at 21-all with 3:27 left until halftime, but a Central Aroostook made free throw gave them their first lead of the game, as they pushed ahead by a few points until Southern Aroostook knotted the game at 28-all on sophmore Kennedi Smith’s basket and took the lead on Sable Altvater’s offensive putback.
The second half would be played neck-and-neck, with only a point separating the teams after three quarters of play, as Central’s Kayla Cushman drained a long 3-pointer at the buzzer. Page Fletcher was not alert of the time running off the clock, but Cushman realizing the urgency, let the ball fly and her team went ahead 45-44.
The final eight minutes were dramatic, as Sarah Grass’ free throw extended Central’s lead, 53-46 with 4:58 left. But, the Southern Aroostook girls didn’t fold. Senior guard Desirae Dubois did a spin move in the lane to draw her team to within three points, 56-53 with 1:55 to go.
With time running out, Mataya Hartin made two free throws to give Southern Aroostook the 59-57 edge. But, Fletcher had a chance to tie the game from the line, but she made only one of two.
Fouls mounted for both teams during the game, but reserve players stepped in and didn’t miss a beat to help their respective teams.
For Southern Aroostook, Smith kept them going offensively with 10 first-half points and another 10 in the second to build her confidence. She was actually quite surprised she did so well. Smith noted in warmup, she wasn’t hitting any baskets. But, she did note that it was definitely a team effort that got the win.
Freshmen Karli Levesque and Sheratin Kelly responded well for coach Megan (Korhonen) McCarthy, with big plays from each of them.
Sable Altvater scored 15 points, five free throws in the last period, while Dubois had 11 points, mostly all from driving the lane. Hartin finished with six points, but she was huge on the glass for coach Tucker, coming away with 17 rebounds.
“Mataya is a beast in there,” he said. “She can get anywhere from 12 to 20 rebounds a game. She knows how to seal her man off. She is aggressive under there [paint area] and she has her fundamentals down. She gives 100 percent every time she’s in there.”
Levesque sparked Central Aroostook with 16 points, while gritty Kayla Cushman posted 14 points with a double-figured rebounding effort, as well. Sarah Grass provided nine, while Fletcher had eight and Kelly five more.
“This game just shows if you never give up, you can always achieve,” added Tucker. “If we can keep our inside-outside game going and we all work together as a unit, I think we can give Hodgdon, Limestone and Washburn really good games.”
The Warriors will play Limestone/MSSM at home on Jan. 23 and then will face Washburn (Jan. 28) and Hodgdon (Feb. 1) in back-to-back home games.
Last Friday night, the Warriors hosted Woodland and came away with a 59-48 win.
Altvater recorded a double-double with a game-high 29 points and 15 rebounds to key her team. Hartin had nine points, but again was effective on the boards bringing down 13 rebounds.
The Dragons jumped to an opening lead of 17-8, but the Warriors, behind their defensive pressure, came to within a basket at halftime, 32-30. In the third, the Warriors continued their press and it was effective, as they outscored Woodland, 17-7, to take a 47-39 lead.
Coach Tucker said his team’s shots were not falling early but they picked it up in the second half and that the free-throw line was the difference in the game, as the Warriors had 39 shots.
At Hodgdon last Wednesday, coach Tucker didn’t really get what he wanted out his squad, as they fell to No. 1 Hodgdon, 41-30.
“Very true,” said Tucker of his team’s performance. “We were flat. If we can get a six to eight-point lead on a team quickly, the girls are more relaxed and we kind of take control of the game throughtout.
“But, if we start behind, we seem to drag for a quarter or quarter and a half before we kick it into gear,” he added.
Lacey McQuarrie was practically unstoppable in that game, as she weaved her way through defenders to a game-high 16 points. Mariah Wiley, despite being tagged all night, finished with 11 more. Haley Gardiner was a consistent presence in the post for Hodgdon, adding eight points and grabbing nine rebounds.
“Lacey penetrated a lot on us and we need to stop that next time,” Tucker explained. “I think we did a good job of shutting down Wiley, she had only one 3-pointer, but we seem to overlook one girl every time.”
Hodgdon led throughout the game: 11-6; 17-12; and 30-24.
“We looked to Lacey more and she really came through for us,” said Hodgdon coach Vaughn Farrar. “McKensie [Palmer] hit a couple of good shots for us, as well. We tweaked our press a little at halftime and we had some great pressure on them from every girl.
“We were able to wear them down a little,” said Farrar. “Then, we got some better looks and a couple of fast breaks to seal the game.”
Altvater scored 15 points for Southern Aroostook and Hartin chipped in with eight more.
The Warriors applied what Tucker called a lazy man-to-man defense, but he will look to change things up when Hodgdon comes to Dyer Brook.
“When we meet up with Hodgdon again, we will have a totally different defense,” said Tucker. “And we will know when to hedge and know when to switch. We need to communicate better.”
The Warriors will take the emotional victory from the Central Aroostook game and hopefully, the momentum carries.
“That game showed them we can be down and still pull out a victory,” said Tucker. “If you work hard, you will get rewarded at the end.”
