BANGOR, Maine — Dexter High School’s dominant senior center and 1,000-point scorer Megan Peach scored 19 points and grabbed 18 rebounds despite being in early foul trouble and her teammates turned in an impressive performance when she was sitting out as the Tigers beat No. 4 Madawaska 50-26 in their Class C North basketball semifinal at the Cross Insurance Center on Tuesday afternoon.
Senior forward Kayli Cunningham contributed 13 points and 10 rebounds and junior Rebecca Batron came off the bench and chipped in with six points and five rebounds for No. 5 Dexter (14-6), which plays top seed Stearns of Millinocket, a 51-41 winner over No. 8 Narraguagus of Harrington on Tuesday, in Friday’s 8:35 p.m. semifinal.
Peach posted seven points and six rebounds in the first 2 minutes, 39 seconds of the game, but sat the rest of the half after picking up her second foul.
The Tigers led by three when she departed and still took a four-point lead into the intermission.
Madawaska’s Hannah Nadeau crashes into Dexter’s Kilee Lewis during Tuesday’s Class C North quarterfinal. Madawaska fell 50-26. (Staff photo | Joseph Cyr)
The Owls (17-2) were within five with 4:32 left in the third period but the Tigers scored the final eight points of the quarter. Peach scored six of them and Cunningham had the other basket to go with an assist on a Peach layup.
Madawaska couldn’t get any closer than 11 the rest of the way. The aggressive Tigers outrebounded Madawaska 43-24.
“It was definitely nerve-wracking when Megan wasn’t out there because she’s our go-to player,” said Cunningham. “So we just worked really hard to get things done. We work a lot on boxing out in practice and that’s what we do in the game. We box out and work harder than the other team to get the ball so they don’t have any second or third opportunities.”
“Even our guards box out,” said Peach. “Everybody did what they needed to do tonight. It was a team win.”
Peach said Madawaska was, “a really athletic team” but didn’t think they were used to the physical play underneath the basket.
“When you play Foxcroft and Central, you have to box out. I don’t think they’ve been exposed to that,” said Peach.
“Dexter is a very good team,” said Madawaska coach Dean Gendreau. “The Peach girl was really good. They were very aggressive and we aren’t used to that constant aggressiveness.”
He also said they had to a chance to make some headway when Peach was on the bench, “but we couldn’t get our offense going. It was slow in developing.”
Sisters Abby Webber and Kaitlyn Webber combined for nine points and defended well for Dexter.
Madawaska’s Desiree Belanger (right) gets tripped up by Dexter’s Abigail Webber during their Class C girls basketball quarterfinal game at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor Tuesday. (BDN photo | Ashley Conti)
Energetic point guard Desiree Belanger registered 11 points, three steals and three rebounds for Madawaska and Hannah Nadeau provided five points and seven rebounds. Jenna Dugal added six points and six rebounds. Brianne Thibeault had four points and four rebounds.
