YORK — If the York High and Greely girls’ basketball teams can match the quality and excitement they created Friday night, then any casual fan of Maine high school girls’ basketball should be rooting for a Class A playoff rematch.
York senior Shannon Todd drained a 22-foot catch-and-shoot 3-pointer off Madigan Cogger’s precisely delivered pass with 2.1 seconds remaining to keep the Wildcats unbeaten with the 69-66 home win.
“Oh my god, it was a really good pass,” Todd said. “She read me so well. Hit me perfectly in the hands and it just went in. Two good teams meeting up, it’s always going to be a good game. It’s definitely a really, really special win.”
Todd scored 11 of her game-high 24 points in the fourth quarter, with three 3-pointers.
York (12-0) will go for Coach Rick Clark’s 500th career win when it meets Marshwood at home at 5:30 p.m. Monday.
Greely (9-3), which starts four key players from its 2015 Class B championship team, trailed the entire second half before twice tying the game in the final minute, the second time on a driving layup by Isabel Porter. Porter was fouled but failed to make the free throw with 32.6 seconds left.
York got the rebound and held for Todd’s winning shot.
Both teams’ top players displayed offensive creativity and shot-making skills.
York worked inside for much of its scoring, with Mia Briggs scoring 18 and Chloe Smedley adding 12.
“It was so much fun,” Smedley said. “Our past games we have beaten pretty much every team by 15, 20, and this was a game where we needed to put all of our personal goals aside and work as a team, and that’s what got us the win.”
Greely countered with outside shooting as Porter (14 points), Moira Train (15) and Molly Chapin (10) combined for seven 3-pointers, many on assists after dribble penetration by precocious freshman guard Anna DeWolfe, who led the Rangers with 19 points, scoring six while playing the final seven minutes with four fouls.
Greely’s three losses have come against two unbeaten teams – twice to Class A York and once to Class AA leader Gorham.
Was Friday night a preview of the Class A South final?
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that because strange things happen in the tournament. Believe me, I know from last year,” Clark said, referencing his team’s upset loss to Lincoln Academy in the quarterfinals. “But it certainly could be.”
“If I get the effort I got here, I like our chances, especially if we can get them on the bigger court,” Greely Coach Joel Rogers said. “If I get this effort at the Expo and the Civic Center I like my chances in every game.”
Greely led multiple times in the first half, the last coming at 31-30 on a Porter 3-pointer late in the second quarter.
From that point, a recurring trend developed.
York would stretch its lead to four or more (but never more than eight) and Greely would promptly respond.
“They’re a really good team. I could see us playing them in the playoffs,” Todd said.
Steve Craig can be reached at 791-6413 or:
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