By Larry Mahoney, BDN Staff
Senior guard Cami Shields pumped in a game-high 36 points and the defending two-time state Class D champion Southern Aroostook High School girls basketball team from Dyer Brook pulled away from eighth-seed Deer Isle-Stonington in the second half to post an 81-39 win at the Cross Insurance Center Monday afternoon.
The 18-1 Warriors advanced to Thursday’s 11:30 a.m. semifinal against fourth seed Jonesport-Beals, 12-7.
They hit eight 3-pointers which tied the Class D North tournament record shared by the 2004 Katahdin High School, 2006 Houlton Christian Academy and 2022 Southern Aroostook squads.
Deer Isle-Stonington wound up 6-14.
The Mariners hung with the Warriors for the first 13 minutes of the game, trailing by eight with five minutes left in the second period.
But the Warriors closed out the half with an 18-8 run and broke the game open by outscoring Deer Isle-Stonington 24-3 in the third quarter.
“We played a 1-2-2 half-court (trap) in the third quarter because we allowed too many blow-bys in our full court man-to-man in the first half,” said SA coach Cliff Urquhart, whose team has won four state D crowns in five years. “They got too many easy buckets.”
“Once they set the trap across the half-court line, we had trouble matching that,” said Deer Isle-Stonington coach Glenn Billings.”They were covering our options.”
Cami Shields, a 1,000-point scorer for her career, said the 36 points “might have been a career-high. I think so.”
She said it was definitely the most she has scored at the Cross Insurance Center.
She said she had the jitters early in the game since it was the first time they had played at the Cross Insurance Center this season.
“After a while, you get used to it all. You definitely get into a rhythm. You get used to the hoops,” said Shields.
She also finished with seven steals and seven rebounds along with four assists.
Sophomore sister Ally Shields finished with 14 points, four steals, four rebounds and five assists.
Senior forward Emmalee Landry and junior center Libby Anderson contributed 10 points apiece.
Landry also had three rebounds and two steals. Senior guard Madison Shields, cousin to Cami and Ally, had six points, five rebounds and two steals.
Seniors Rylee Dorr, Madelyn Eaton and Maya Brown sparked the Mariners. Dorr and Eaton had nine points apiece and Brown had eight.
Eaton grabbed 10 rebounds, Brown had six and Dorr had four. Eaton also had three steals.
Sophomore Megan Wendell chipped in with six points and five rebounds and freshman Hannah Billings had five points and four rebounds.
