PORTLAND — Kayla Bess said the message was simple when her Madison girls basketball team came to the bench trailing by three after coughing up a nine-point halftime lead against host Waynflete School in a Western C prelim game Tuesday night.
“The coaches told us we’ve got good shooters. Don’t slow down,” Bess said.
Additional Images
Over the final five minutes, the No. 10 Bulldogs shot well and pushed the pace en route to a 48-41 victory.
Madison (10-9) will next play No. 2 Boothbay (17-1) in a regional quarterfinal Tuesday at 4 p.m. in the Augusta Civic Center.
Bess led the Bulldogs with 17 points, and it was her opportune basket after an offensive rebound that started her squad’s game-ending 14-4 run.
No. 7 Waynflete finishes 12-6.
The Flyers shot just 3-of-18 in the fourth quarter and committed three critical turnovers in a row after Julianna Harwood had made two free throws to cut the Madison lead to 40-39 with 2:50 to play.
“We just didn’t execute down the stretch,” Waynflete coach Brandon Salway said. “We had chances and we just turned it over too much which was kind of a bugaboo all year. And we missed a ton of close-range shots. Games like this you have to finish them and (Madison) did.”
It was the final game for two Flyers who were key contributors to the 2013 championship team: Helen Gray-Bauer (team-high 16 points with six steals) and Harwood (13 points). Senior Dana Peirce (4 points) was also on that team.
“Our three seniors put everything into this game and that sums up their careers,” Salway said.
Gray-Bauer keyed the comeback with seven points in a 13-4 run that extended into the fourth quarter, with help from Harwood and Lydia Giguere (8 points).
Giguere’s sweet jumper off the dribble gave the Flyers a 37-34 lead with 5:43 to play.
That’s when Madison buckled down and retook control.
“We played just better man-to-man defense,” Madison coach Al Veneziano said. “We just dug in and didn’t allow them to have a couple of shots at the basket every time. We got rebounds.”
After Bess had cut the lead to one with her offensive putback, Madeline Wood popped free on the left wing and didn’t hesitate, knocking down a 14-footer.
Erin Whalen and Aly LeBlanc (12 points) both scored on inside scramble plays, Whalen after a Bulldog miss, LeBlanc after catching a blocked shot as she was going to the basket looking for a rebound for a 42-39 lead.
“We got a couple rebounds down,” Veneziano said. “We talked about going to the boards and rebounding at the offensive end and I thought we did that tonight.”
Wood then found Whalen inside and helped secure the win when she blocked a Giguere shot.
Bess closed the Flyers out with four straight free throws in the final 15 seconds.
Madison had taken control with a 15-7 edge in the second quarter behind 6-of-10 shooting while Waynflete was just 3-of-17.
“There were a lot of moments when we really had some nice plays and felt the energy,” Gray-Bauer said. “It stemmed from everyone on the team but I do feel we played our best, it just wasn’t quite enough. Madison played very well.”
Steve Craig can be reached at 791-6413 or at:
scraig@pressherald.com
Twitter: SteveCCraig
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Comments are no longer available on this story