AUGUSTA — When every pass has to be perfect, it affects everything else. Shots become rushed because you know you won’t get as many. Rebounds are more important, because you have fewer possessions.
That’s what Carrabec faced on Tuesday night against Maranacook. The top-seeded Black Bears raced to a 13-point halftime lead, held off Carrabec’s comeback and pulled away late for a 50-34 victory in a Western C girls basketball quarterfinal at the Augusta Civic Center.
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“I think the bigger floor affected us more than I thought it would,” Carrabec coach Skip Rugh said. “You could tell the difference. It was that much more dribbling or something to try to do to get open. It did affect them, But Maranacook played good, pressure defense.”
The Black Bears unleashed that pressure from the outset, but it didn’t really start paying off until the second quarter. In the first quarter, Maranacook’s Christine Miller was passing rather than shooting, and assisted on Maranacook’s first four baskets.
“I try to get a feel for the game, and once I know how they’re playing me, how the game’s going to be inside and out, I adjust from that,” Miller said.
Some of those assists went to Liz D’Angelo, who missed last year’s tournament because she was out of the country, but is back this winter and scored seven points in the first quarter.
“It’s a huge impact,” Miller said of having D’Angelo in the lineup. “It takes a lot of pressure off of me, because she’s another big. It makes teams focus on both of us, instead of one of us, because she can make inside shots just as well as I can. It gives us more rebounding power in there, too. It’s awesome.”
Carrabec hung tough with its usual tenacity and the inside scoring of Emma Pluntke, and trailed 12-10 late in the first quarter. Miller decided scoring sounded fun, too, and drained a three to help Maranacook to a 16-10 lead after one quarter.
The Cobras felt the full effect of Maranacook’s pressure in the second quarter. Passes that normally went to a teammate were slapped away. With the Black Bears trapping full court at times, Carrabec expended considerable energy just bringing the ball across halfcourt. By halftime, Carrabec had 15 turnovers, compared to seven for Maranacook. Although the Bears weren’t shooting remarkably well, they were getting plenty of extra shots from those turnovers. And when Catherine Sanborn caught a pass from Justice Merrill and knocked down a jumper at the buzzer, Maranacook led 31-18 at halftime.
Maranacook shot 1 for 15 in the third quarter, and Carrabec got within 33-27 when Liberty Chestnut opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer. The Cobras missed a three that would have made it a three-point game, and Maranacook finished the game out with more, unrelenting, pressure.
“We have a lot of games where we’ve maybe played a great first half, and then had a bad third quarter,” Maranacook coach Jeannine Paradis said. “But we’ve recovered. I really think that our schedule has allowed us to be prepared for that, and not lose our composure.”
Pluntke, a talented 6-foot senior who scored six points in the first quarter, sat out much of the first half and nearly all of the second.
“No excuses, but Emma had a fever of 102 (Monday),” Rugh said. “At halftime, she just couldn’t go again.”
Miller led Maranacook with 19 points, seven assists and four blocked shots. D’Angelo added 11 points and Catherine Sanborn had nine rebounds. For Carrabec, 5-foot Baylee Atwood came up with 10 rebounds.
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
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