Noble 40

South Portland 38

Up 22-8 going into halftime, the South Portland Red Riots looked to breeze past the Noble Lady Knights in the second half of their semifinal game at the Cumberland County Civic Center on Friday and prepare for a showdown with Deering for the Western Maine Class A girls regional title.

Instead, Noble crawled back from their 14-point deficit to pull within two points of the Riots by the end of the third quarter, and stunned the Riots at the end of the fourth, defeating the Riots on a last-second layup from Alyssa Stokes to break a 38-38 tie and win, 40-38.

The Riots had good reason to be confident going into the second half. The team went on a 15-0 run between the end of the first and the start of the second quarter, their defense held Noble to only eight points, two of their players each outscored Noble in the first half (Jessica Aceto with 10 points and Brianna Hawkins with nine), and Noble was 0-for-6 from the free throw line.

Hawkins finished with 19 points in the game to lead the Riots, and Aceto’s 10 first half points paced the offense at the start of the game, as she hit two three-pointers in the second quarter.

Noble’s Sloane Sorrell had a game-high 26 points, and scored all eight first half points for the Knights. Stokes finished with eight points on the night, including a game-tying three-pointer midway through the fourth to go with her game-winning layup.

“I thought we had a chance to shut the door on them in the second half, and we didn’t,” said South Portland coach Mike Giordano. “They scored the baskets, got the momentum, and didn’t give up.”

The third-ranked Knights opened the second half on a 10-0 run, quickly pulling close to the Riots at 22-18, and scoring more in the first few minutes of the third quarter than they did in the entire first half.

“We knew we didn’t want to go out with just eight points at halftime; that was the worst half we’ve played this year,” said Sorrell. “We had to come out with some intensity in the second half, start making shots, start making stops on defense, and we just played our hearts out.”

South Portland called a timeout after Sorrell’s fourth basket of the run to stop Noble’s offense, and the two teams traded baskets once play resumed. For a short time after the Riots timeout, the game turned into a two-person scoring duel, as Hawkins and Sorrell temporarily took control of the game for their respective teams, seeing who could top the other.

“We had a 6’1″ player guarding her, and she was still making shots falling to the floor. That’s a credit to (Sorrell). She made some great plays for them,” said Giordano.

The Riots seemed to have taken control of the remainder of the third after they stopped Noble’s run, going up 28-22 in the final seconds of the quarter. A free throw from Stokes pulled Noble to within five, and after a timeout, a three-pointer from Noble’s Becky Creveling cut South Portland’s seemingly insurmountable 14-point lead to just two points, at 28-26 going into the fourth.

“We knew (Sorrell) obviously has a big advantage inside, so we wanted to work it in to her as much as we could, and let her get us back in there. She did a great job,” said Stokes.

The fourth quarter displayed the kind of basketball fans would expect when a second-seed and a third-seed meet in the playoffs, as South Portland and Noble went back and forth with each other in a quarter that featured six lead changes.

Sorrell tied the game 28-28 at the start of the fourth on a steal and a breakaway layup. The Riots soon went up 32-29, but the game was tied once again when Stokes hit a clutch three-pointer.

The lead changes continued down to the final 30 seconds, and when the game was deadlocked at 38-38, Noble had possession of the ball and had to come up with a basket on a broken play.

“We didn’t run it the way it was supposed to be, it kind of got messed up, but then (Stokes) just cut to the basket and threw the ball up there, and it went in,” said Sorrell.

The stunning comeback win catapulted Noble to a Western Class A final showdown with top-ranked Deering, while the Lady Riots were eliminated after a 16-4 season.

“We had a great season, but it just ended sourly. When you don’t take home the prize, it’s a little disappointing,” said Giordano. “I guess we’ve been pleased with how our seasons have gone, but we’re not pleased with how we’re finishing, and I think that’s the most disappointing thing. But I’m proud of the kids, they worked hard, and a 15-3 regular season record in our league is a good record. But we’re still looking for a little bit more than that.”

Copy the Story Link