Wildcat girls fall short in semifinals
By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
BANGOR — As far as Presque Isle coach Jeff Hudson is concerned, last Wednesday’s Eastern Maine Class B tournament loss to Nokomis came down to a lack of rebounding.
Contributed photo/jMavorPhotography.com
SOPHOMORE GUARD Karlee Bernier of the Presque Isle Wildcats tries to dribble past Nokomis’s Emilee Reynolds during last Wednesday’s EM Class B semifinal game in Bangor.
The Wildcats were beaten in that department by a 36-16 margin, and that ultimately led to a 49-43 loss – the second consecutive year PI had fallen to the Warriors in the semifinal round.
The top-seeded ’Cats were outrebounded by a similar margin in last year’s matchup.
“It was really about second and third chances for them,” Hudson said. “We couldn’t get a rebound and it happened over and over again. There was a lot of turning to look at the basket instead of turning to find their man.”
Presque Isle got off to a decent start, thanks in part to a pair of inside baskets by sophomore center Meredith Stewart, one off a pass from Karlee Bernier and the other courtesy of a Kayla Richards assist. The second hoop gave the Wildcats a 6-4 lead 2:20 in, but Nokomis then went on a 9-0 run the rest of the period to take control and last year’s regional champions never trailed again.
Nokomis utilized its height advantage to dominate the interior. The Newport-based Warriors, a second-year Class B program after moving down from the A ranks, scored their final seven field goals of the first half from the paint, two on inbounds plays and three on putbacks following offensive rebounds. Marissa Shaw and Emilee Reynolds combined for five of the Nokomis hoops.
“They got ahead early and they had the pace in their favor, which is slow, and that’s not how we need to play,” said Hudson, whose team’s trademark full-court pressure was ineffective against the guard play of Nokomis.
PI also shot poorly over the first three quarters, hitting only 8 of 29 field goal attempts and going 0 for 6 on three-pointers.
Nokomis coach Kori Dionne said the plan defensively was to not allow the Presque Isle dribblers get deep into the paint.
“We worked a ton on shutting off that dribble penetration early, shutting it off with help on the wing and I think we did a good job with it,” Dionne said.
“Also, we had them in the height department, so they were getting one shot and that was it.”
Presque Isle’s deficit grew to as many as 14 points and the Wildcats trailed 38-25 with under five minutes remaining in the game before making their run.
Thanks to an aggressive man-to-man defense that forced six fourth-quarter turnovers, accurate shooting (9 for 14 from the floor in the fourth) and the individual offensive exploits of Richards (seven points) and sophomore super-sub Megan Ireland (eight), PI trailed by just three, 43-40, with 1:33 left.
“We started playing with some intensity,” Hudson said. “We got a spark and finally everyone stepped up.”
Ireland started the spurt with a three-pointer, while Richards scored on a drive to the hoop. After a Warrior bucket, Ireland finished a fast-break with a layup following a steal at midcourt and Richards had another hoop off a successful drive.
Nokomis hit three foul shots and still led by nine with 1:52 left, but Richards completed a conventional three-point play and after another steal, Ireland drained another three-pointer to get PI back to within three and as close as the game had been since 5:13 remaining in the first half.
Nokomis never wavered, however, and hit six foul shots in a row in the final 57 seconds to hold off the late charge and come out on top. After starting the game 1 for 5 from the line, the Warriors hit 11 of 14 in the final quarter, including a 7-of-8 effort by Reynolds.
“We’ve talked about how defense and foul shooting are huge in the tournament,” Dionne said. “That was the difference in the fourth when they went on that flurry, us hitting our foul shots.”
Shaw had 11 points and 10 rebounds and Danielle Watson nine rebounds to lead the Warriors’ inside game.
Ireland scored 16 points to pace Presque Isle’s offense, while Richards had nine.
“Hey, we won 18 games and a Big East championship,” Hudson said, “so we had a great year. It just didn’t end the way we wanted it to.”
