By Larry Mahoney, BDN Staff
The defending two-time state champion Southern Aroostook High School girls basketball team made it six Class D North titles in a row with a convincing 71-27 victory over seventh seed Katahdin High School of Stacyville on Saturday afternoon at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
Southern Aroostook, now 20-1, will look to win its fifth state title in six years at the Augusta Civic Center next Saturday at 1 p.m. when it takes on 21-0 Valley High of Bingham.
Katahdin finished at 14-8 with three of the losses coming to Southern Aroostook.
Southern Aroostook’s relentless pressure defense forced 18 turnovers in the first half and limited Katahdin to a 3-for-21 shooting performance as the Warriors built a comfortable 39-10 lead at the intermission.
“In the first half, that was the best defense we’ve played all year,” said Southern Aroostook senior guard Emmalee Landry who added that they also “hit our shots and outran them.”
“There have been some games this year where we have come out a little flat. But, this game, we came out hot and that was really important,” said senior guard Cami Shields.
Sophomore guard Ally Shields, Cami’s sister, poured in a game-high 23 points to lead the Warriors and she also did a stellar job guarding Katahdin 1,000-point career scorer Hunter Hartsgrove, limiting her to just four points after Hartsgrove had averaged 29.5 points per game in the Cougars’ quarterfinal and semifinal wins.
“Ally did a great job on Hartsgrove,” said SA coach Cliff Urquhart. “She really dug in on both ends and played an extremely good game.”
“I just focused on her on defense. I didn’t focus on anything else. And my offense just came to me,” said Ally Shields. “I wasn’t worried about offense because I knew my teammates could do that.”
She called Hartsgrove a “great player” and said her team’s defensive pressure on the Cougars “created turnovers for our offense.”
“She is a really good defender. I have to give her credit for that,” said senior Hartsgrove, who will attend Central Maine Community College in Auburn in the fall. “Southern Aroostook is a really good team. They are fundamentally sound. They can hit outside shots. They can drive.
“We did not play our best. It happens,” added Hartsgrove.
Ally Shields had three steals, three rebounds and two assists to go with her 23 points.
Cami Shields pumped in 18 points and dished out six assists to go with eight rebounds and seven steals.
Landry had 15 points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists.
Senior Madison Shields, their cousin, chipped in with seven points and five rebounds.
Junior Libby Anderson and sophomore Hannah McGary had four points each and Anderson also hauled down six rebounds.
Sophomore Ayanna Lester led the Cougars with 13 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Senior Shelby Libby finished with nine points, 10 rebounds and three steals.
Hartsgrove had four rebounds to accompany her four points and sophomore Emily McNally had a basket to go with six rebounds.
Southern Aroostook closed out the first quarter with a 15-3 run that built a 20-6 lead.
Cami Shields had seven of the 15 points and also had two assists on a Madison Shields 3-pointer and a Landry layup.
The Warriors went on to outscore Katahdin 19-4 in the second quarter.
