Cougars fall in D quarterfinal

BANGOR, Maine —  Emily Curtis scored 16 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and made five steals to lead third-seeded Woodland to a  59-33 victory over sixth seed Katahdin in a Class D North quarterfinal at the Cross Insurance Center Monday morning.

The Woodland Dragons of Baileyville, 14-5, will play the winner of the Deer Isle-Stonington-Ashland game on Thursday at 7:05.

Katie Erskine had 15 points, three rebounds and three steals and Sadie Smith contributed 13 points, three rebounds and three steals. Emily Erskine finished with seven points, five assists and three rebounds and Brooke Russell chipped in with four points, six rebounds, four steals and three assists.

Madison Landry’s seven points and four rebounds led Katahdin. Lily Cullen, Madison Landry and Emily Beyer had four points apiece for Katahdin.

Sadie Smith’s nine points, Katie Erskine’s eight points and three steals and Curtis’ seven points, five rebounds and two steals paced Woodland.

“We played well in the first quarter, but things got away from us in the second quarter,” Katahdin coach Jona Fitzpatrick said. “We got into that hole and had a really hard time digging out of it. We didn’t shoot really well from the perimeter, but once we started taking it to the basket we did a lot better.”

The coach added she was pleased with the defensive effort of Hannah Kyllonen.

Woodland pressed early and often against the Cougars, in the hopes of creating turnovers. The Dragons went a perfect 13-for-13 from the foul line in the first half and forced 16 turnovers with its full-court press en route to building a 31-15 lead.

“I thought we handled the (defensive) pressure very well,” Fitzpatrick said. “We needed to attack the rim a lot sooner than we did. We also needed to do a better job defensively. They played hard, but it just wasn’t our day.”

Katahdin ends its season with a 9-10 record.

Houlton Pioneer Times staff writer Joseph Cyr contributed to this article.