BANGOR, Maine — Top seed Southern Aroostook Community School of Dyer Brook received 12 points and nine rebounds from eighth-grader Kacy Daggett and Makaelyn Porter’s three-pointer with 3:58 left triggered a 9-3 run to close out the game as the Warriors outlasted fourth seed Easton for a 48-42 win in their Class D North semifinal.
Southern Aroostook, 19-1, will meet No. 2 Shead of Eastport, 18-2, in Saturday’s 9:05 a.m. final at the Cross Insurance Center. Shead defeated No. 6 Washburn 51-29 in the opening semifinal in Bangor on Thursday night.
Easton wound up 11-9.
The seesaw game was tied 39-39 when Kassidy Mathers fed Porter on the left wing and she nailed the three-pointer.
“That was a huge momentum shift for us,” Southern Aroostook coach Cliff Urquhart said. “We got to play ahead instead of behind. We haven’t played from behind much this year. When we got that lead, you could tell that took the weight off our shoulders. We were able to play a little bit more loose after that.”
Isabelle Morin’s free throw cut it to 42-40 but Kassidy Mathers answered with a free throw and then Porter stole the ball and Kylie Vining eventually hit on a base line drive.
Following an Easton miss, Daggett grabbed the rebound and, a few seconds later, Mathers fed Daggett for a clinching layup.
Vining had a game-high 13 points and she also grabbed seven rebounds to complement Daggett. Mathers had eight points, five rebounds and five assists for Southern Aroostook. Porter had nine points and two steals.
Urquhart said Daggett played great inside. “She took the ball to the basket, she was aggressive. Couldn’t have asked for more from an eighth-grader.”
Morin had 12 points for Easton and she also had six rebounds. Sara Gilman had 11 points and nine rebounds and Casey Lovely contributed six points and seven rebounds. Elise Allen had eight rebounds and three assists.
Urquhart said he thought his team’s pressure and trapping defense won it for his team.
“We turned them over, we made them panic a little bit. They rushed some shots. I think we definitely wore them out,” said Urquhart, whose team overcame a 10-for-33 shooting performance from the foul line. “When you keep grinding, eventually good things are going to happen and they did.”
Easton’s Sara Gilman (left) and Southern Aroostook’s Kassidy Mathers battle for a loose ball during their Class D girls basketball semifinal game at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor Thursday.
(Ashley L. Conti)
“We played well. We executed. But somebody’s got to win and somebody’s got to lose,” said Easton coach Bryan Shaw, who led the Bears to their first appearance in the tournament since 1991.
He said the pace and intensity of the game “took a lot out of us. We knew we were coming to play a good team.”
The Bears raced out to a 12-2 lead behind Gilman’s seven points.
Her second open jump shot off an inbounds pass early in the second quarter capped a 5-2 spurt that gave the Bears a 17-8 lead.
But the Warriors scored the next 11 points with Daggett using some nifty inside moves to score eight of the points.
Mathers had two assists on Daggett baskets and converted a layup off her own steal.
Lovely’s foul line jump shot snapped the run.
Makaelyn Porter’s 3-pointer from the left side of the key made it 22-19 but Gilman closed out the half with an 8-foot shot off a cross-court pass from Allen.
Daggett had eight first-half points and Vining had five for Southern Aroostook while Gilman had all of her 11 points in the first 16 minutes for Easton and Lovely had five.
