Battle of the undefeated goes to Presque Isle in EM final

14 years ago

SH PI Washburn BBall Banne copy

Battle of the undefeated

goes to Presque Isle in EM final

Wildcats and Beavers capture Eastern Maine hoop titles

By Jon Gulliver

Staff writer

    BANGOR — It was the Eastern Maine Class B schoolgirl final most everyone wanted to see and it didn’t disappoint.

    The undefeated and top-ranked Presque Isle Wildcats squared off against the No. 2 seed and also undefeated Nokomis Warriors Saturday afternoon at the Bangor Auditorium in front of a big and vocal crowd.

    The Warriors and Wildcats have a recent history, which hasn’t been kind to Presque Isle. The previous two years Nokomis knocked the ‘Cats out of the tournament in the semifinal round, but this afternoon the tables turned.

    The Presque Isle girls actually started the game a little slow, dropping the first quarter by a 12-8 score. That marked the first time this season the Wildcats were down at the end of a quarter. Senior forward Marrisa Shaw sparked the Warriors early, with some offensive rebounds and easy buckets, but she also got into foul trouble and started the second quarter on the bench.

    Shaw’s second foul also marked a change in the momentum. Presque Isle’s defensive intensity picked up, which led to some quality offense.

    “Our guards are so quick, they pester everyone, they have all year,” said Wildcat coach Jeff Hudson. “Our press gave us just enough turnovers to give us a lead.

    When Shaw reentered the game Presque Isle senior Chelsea Nickerson, stuck to her like glue on the defensive end.

    “I knew I had to be strong on Shaw and box out,” Nickerson said. “I fronted the post and stayed low.”

    “Not a lot of kids take pride in defense,” said Wildcat assistant coach Ralph Michaud. “Chelsea would rather steal the ball than score a basket. We are lucky to have her.”

    Presque Isle took a 25-17 lead into the half.

    The third quarter saw the Wildcats push the lead to 11, 32-21, at 4:45 when Hannah Graham drilled an 18-foot jumper.

Staff photo/Jon Gulliver
    MVP PERFORMANCE — Presque Isle’s Chandler Guerrette goes hard to the hoop against Nokomis in the Eastern Maine Class B final on Saturday. The Wildcats advanced to the State final against Lake Region and Guerrette was named Class D MVP by the Bangor Daily News. sp-cats-dc2-sh-09

    In the fourth quarter Nokomis did make a run, but consecutive three-pointers by Graham and Chandler Guerrette put Presque Isle up again by 11.

    Presque Isle closed out its scoring from the line, hitting seven of nine free throws in the last 1:15.

    Senior Kayla Richards was one of the Wildcats to go to charity stripe in the final minute.

    “I was thinking we had the game in hand, as long as we could finish, stay composed and make our free throws,” said Richards.

    The final score was 52-40.

    Guerrette and Graham paced the Presque Isle offense with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Richards ended with seven points for the Wildcats, and Krystal Kingsbury and Megan Ireland added six apiece.

    “Nobody would say we wanted Nokomis but we did,” said coach Hudson. “We had to match them and we really did.”

    “It meant a lot especially knowing it is my last chance,” added Nickerson.

    “It is amazing,” chimed in Richards. “We have both waited four years for this and finally we got it. It is awesome.”

    Presque Isle (21-0) will face Lake Region of Bridgton in Friday’s state game at 7:05 p.m. at the Bangor Auditorium.

    That will be a rematch of the 2006 state final, won by Presque Isle 48-36. The 19-2 Lakers, No. 1 in the West, defeated Greely of Cumberland Center 49-30 on Saturday.

PRESQUE ISLE (52)

    Ireland 2-6 2-2 6, Nickerson 1-2 2-2 4, Guerrette 5-12 2-3 13, Bernier 1-6 0-0 3, Ackerson 0, Ka. Richards 1-3 5-6 7, Buck 0, Graham 4-9 2-4 11, Girardin 0, Kingsbury 2-3 2-4 6, Cheney 0, Stewart 1-4 0-1 2. Totals 17-45 15-22 52.

NOKOMIS (40)

    Kent-Webber 0-0 0-0 0, Ky. Richards 0-6 0-0 0, M. Shaw 6-10 2-2 14, Reynolds 2-4 0-0 4, Whitney \ 0, Ke. Richards 4-12 0-0 10, Dunton 0-1 0-0 0, Mackenzie 3-11 2-4 8, T. Shaw 0, Quick 0, Perry 0, Kerstetter 0, Carson 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 17-48 4-6 40.

Nokomis       12-5-11-12 — 40

Presque Isle    8-17-9-18 — 52