WELLS – Maybe it wasn’t the cleanest of games or the most prolific offensive showing of either team.

But for Rick Clark, the long-time coach of the York High girls’ basketball team, the videotape of the 34-27 victory over rival Wells on Friday night still has great meaning.

“I’m going to keep it and show it to future teams when I want to talk about toughness and the ability to overcome adversity,” he said. “We showed a lot of both tonight.”

The Wildcats entered the game with three starters — guard Andrea Mountford, and forwards Emily Campbell and Marquis MacGlashing — hurt or sick. A fourth starter — Ruby Cribby — was banged up in the fourth quarter. And the fifth — Addison LaBonte — got in foul trouble.

And, oh yeah, Mountford, who wore a hard plastic boot on her right ankle before and after the game, banged her right knee late in the third quarter and had to miss about four minutes.

“We’re tough,” she said. “We always fight to the end.”

What the Wildcats were fighting for — and achieved — was a bye to the Western Class B quarterfinals Feb. 21 at the Portland Expo. While Heal points aren’t official, it appears the win pushed the Wildcats (14-4) into second place.

“That should give us a nice break with all the injuries and sickness we have,” said Clark.

Wells (13-5) should finish sixth and host a preliminary-round game at 7 p.m. Wednesday, the likely opponent being Freeport.

The Warriors also showed heart. Earlier in the year, York scored the first 21 points in beating Wells, 49-32. This time the Wildcats scored the first nine.

But Wells regrouped behind defense, pulling within one at the half when Abby Moody had a nine-point second quarter.

Wells took an 18-17 lead on an offensive rebound basket by Mariyah Heath with 1:33 left in the third, but York got the lead on Cribby’s two foul shots with two seconds left in the quarter.

Then York took control. Leading 21-20, it scored nine consecutive points for a 10-point lead the Wildcats wouldn’t lose. Wells pulled within one on a fast-break layup by Allison Furness before Coach Don Abbott called a timeout with 5:14 left.

“I probably wish I hadn’t called that timeout,” said Abbott. “But we were playing so hard and I thought we needed a break.”

Instead, Mountford returned. Even though she was hobbled, she wasn’t sitting out.

“I knew this meant a lot to our team and I wanted to be part of it,” she said.

LaBonte began the run with a foul shot. When she missed the second, MacGlashing — dominant with 12 rebounds — put in a rebound to make it 24-20.

After a Wells miss, McGlashling made a back-door cut and LaBonte found her for a layup, and it was 26-20. After another Wells miss, Campbell hit a 10-footer. A Wells turnover led to two foul shots by Cribby and it was 30-20 with 3:28 left.

“For that spurt, however long it was, we ran our offense the way it’s supposed to be run,” said Clark. “For that 4:00 stretch at the start of the fourth, we played the way we have to play in the tournament for 32 minutes.”

Before that, both defenses had controlled the tempo, but Mountford was confident the Wildcats would make a run.

“As long as we get it when we need it,” she said, “I don’t care when it happens.”

Staff Writer Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or at:

mlowe@pressherald.com

Twitter: MikeLowePPH