Nokomis coach girls basketball coach Kori Dionne can appreciate a good defense, but since she also appreciates good offense, she didn’t find her team’s first game with Medomak Valley much in the way of entertainment.
In that Jan. 26 game, Nokomis picked up a 33-23 victory. At 7:05 tonight, No. 4 Nokomis will face No. 3 Medomak Valley in the Eastern B final at the Bangor Auditorium. Both teams are 18-2, and Dionne is expecting a better game.
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“That game was ugly,” Dionne said. “We played awful, and I don’t think that Medomak played the way they’re capable of playing, either. To me, it seemed like we wanted to see who could turn the ball over more times. It was ugly.”
Nokomis is the defending Eastern B champion, while Medomak is playing in its first regional final since 1978. The Panthers’ only other loss this season was to Leavitt, which is undefeated in Western B. Medomak Valley has won its two tournament games by a combined 40 points.
“I think offensively, we stepped it up some, just as far as execution-wise,” Medomak Valley coach Randy Hooper said. “Defensively, we’re playing as well as we’ve played all year, without question.”
In the semifinals against John Bapst, Medomak Valley got some easy baskets inside with 6-foot-2 center Ericka Christensen, but also got shooting from guards Lindsay Ranquist and Alanna Vose. Defensively, the Panthers held John Bapst to 14 field goals and 18 turnovers.
“They like to mix it up defensively, so that’s a game where we need to play smart, within ourselves,” Dionne said. “We need to understand what it is they’re getting into when they come in and out of those different defenses.”
Nokomis freshman Kelsie Richards hit four 3-pointers and scored 18 points in the quarterfinals against Mt. Desert Island, but when Richards missed most of the semifinal game against Presque Isle with foul trouble, the Warriors still clicked offensively.
Like Richards, Julie Smith, Marissa Shaw and Emilee Reynolds are each averaging at least 10 points per game in the playoffs.
“Some of the other teams we’ve played, you can focus on one player,” Hooper said. “You can’t do that against them. It has to be a well-rounded defensive effort.”
What nearly hurt Nokomis in the semifinals was that the Warriors played well for 3 1/2 quarters and not so well for the final four minutes. They want to avoid that trap, and so does Medomak Valley.
“You have to play a complete game (against Nokomis),” Hooper said, “and you have to play a complete game for 32 minutes.”
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
mdifilippo@centralmaine.com
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