PORTLAND — No. 11 Wells gave No. 2 York all it could handle Thursday afternoon, but in the end, York proved one play better than the Warriors, advancing to the Western Maine Class B title game with a 40-38 win.

York senior guard Ruby Cribby (13 points) sank to free throws with six seconds remaining, breaking a 38-38 tie. That forced Wells coach Don Abbott to call timeout and his team executed a perfect full-court play, finishing with junior guard Nicole Moody going to the foul line with 1.9 seconds left and having a chance to tie the game.

Moody, however, missed the first free throw and purposefully missed the second one, giving the Warriors one last chance to tie the game. The plan almost worked as Sophie Lamb grabbed the rebound, but York blocked her shot as time ran out, sealing the win.

“Ultimately, York made one more play at the end,” Abbott said. “We did exactly what we wanted to do.”

Moody, who was visibly upset after the game, said the first foul shot felt true.

“I thought it was good,” said Moody, who scored seven points. “It almost worked.”

Wells entered the tournament as one of the last teams to get in with a 7-11 record, but it beat Gray-New Gloucester 53-46 in the preliminary round and stunned unbeaten Spruce Mountain 43-42 in the quarterfinals, before almost pulling off another stunner on Thursday.

“We just realized that we were a better team than we had been playing in the regular season,” junior forward Alison Furness (game-high 15 points) said about Wells’ performance in the tournament. “We knew we could compete with these teams.”

Abbott, although playing the Cinderella card throughout the tournament, said he agreed with Furness.

“I told them that we weren’t guests to this dance,” he said. “We belonged here.”

Using a stifling defense in the first quarter, and forcing seven turnovers, the Warriors took a 9-5 lead when junior guard Kaitlyn Tufts finished a fastbreak off a pass from Furness with 1:12 to play.

The Warriors then started the second quarter on a 6-0 run thanks to Furness, who scored six straight points in the first two minutes of the quarter, eventually giving the Warriors a 15-7 lead with 5:41 to play.

During the next three minutes, however, Wells couldn’t capitalize on forcing four turnovers as neither team scored. York took advantage, and went on a 13-4 run in the next two minutes thanks to three 3-pointers ”“ one by Cribby and two by Shannon Todd ”“ taking a 20-19 lead into halftime. Todd finished with 13 points.

“It was like a heavyweight fight out there,” Abbott said. “They took our best shot and then we took their best shot. I knew it would be a game of runs.”

After the break, neither team could pull away as they swapped leads three times in the third quarter, with Wells taking a 29-28 lead into the fourth quarter after junior guard Sydney LaChapelle hit a 3-pointer with 53.1 seconds remaining.

Wells found a bit of breathing room in the fourth quarter and used a 6-0 run to take a 35-32 lead thanks to some timely shooting and strong defense.

Furness cut the lead to 32-31 with a drive and foul to the basket. She made the free throw, tying the game at 32-32 with 6:51 left.

Then the Warriors stole the ball on the next play and junior guard Stephanie Woods finished with a driving layup for a 34-32 lead with 6:33 to play.

York didn’t fold and cut the deficit to 38-36 on senior Emily Campbell’s bucket, and then tied the game at 38-38 with 1:15 left to play on a Cribby putback.

York got the ball back and held for the next minute before Cribby drew a foul with six seconds left, eventually giving York the 40-38 win.

While many of the Warriors players wiped tears from their eyes after the game, they quickly turned their attention to next season as the entire team returns.

“This is hard, but we’re excited about next year,” Furness said. “We could have a great team next season.”

— Contact Al Edwards at 282-1535, Ext. 323.