AUGUSTA — With its inside tandem of 6-footers Page Brown and Faith Blethen, the Boothbay girls’ basketball team presents matchup problems for pretty much any Class C South opponent.
Mt. Abram tried its best to stay with the Seahawks in a regional quarterfinal Monday at the Augusta Civic Center, but the 10th-seeded Roadrunners were no match for the defending champions, who rolled to a 60-21 victory.
Boothbay (18-1), the No. 2 seed, advanced to play No. 3 Monmouth Academy in the semifinals Thursday. Mt. Abram finished 11-9.
The Seahawks got double-doubles from both Blethen (15 points, 10 rebounds) and Brown (15 points, 12 rebounds) and also received a big game from guard Sydney Meader, who scored 14 points.
Both teams had their struggles in the first quarter, but the trio of Meader, Brown and Blethen awoke in the second quarter, combining for 17 points as the Seahawks outscored the Roadrunners 22-8 to send Boothbay into halftime with a 32-10 lead.
Boothbay stayed hot in the second half. From the middle of the third quarter until the middle of the fourth, the Seahawks went on a 21-0 run.
“We kind of knew they were going to run a triangle-and-two (defense), so we just prepared for that,” Blethen said.
Sophomore guard Summer Ross was the offensive bright spot for Mt. Abram, which beat Hebron Academy 49-42 in the preliminary round. Ross scored 12 points, including two 3-pointers.
Mt. Abram Coach Larry Donald was happy with his team for making it to the quarterfinals.
“Our goal was to get back to Augusta,” Donald said. “They haven’t been here for five years. We got here, we played a team that’s predicted to win it all. … (Boothbay) is a good team, no doubt about it.”
MONMOUTH ACADEMY 45, WAYNFLETE 40: Third-seeded Monmouth found itself in a battle for its tournament life against No. 6 Waynflete at Augusta.
The Mustangs didn’t gain any breathing room until the final 30 seconds, when three players converted single free throws to seal a 45-40 victory.
There were five ties and six lead changes. Abbey Allen, a junior, led the Mustangs (17-3) with 16 points and eight rebounds, and Tia Day added 10 points.
Waynflete senior Annika Brooks led all scorers with 25 points, to go along with nine rebounds.
“They play a lot of (Class) B schools and they beat Falmouth this year, which is a tournament team in (Class) A,” Monmouth Coach Scott Wing said of the Flyers. “They’re a good, solid team and they’re the type of team that gives us a hard time – two big girls and a point guard we couldn’t get to turn the ball over.”
Monmouth took the lead for good early in the second half when Day made two free throws and Hannah Anderson and Emily Grandahl converted layups to make it 36-31. There wasn’t much scoring after that as both teams missed shots and took their time to run some clock. After shooting 10 for 27 in the first half, Monmouth went 4 for 16 in the second half.
“We were trying to be more patient with the ball because they weren’t allowing us to shoot outside much,” Wing said. “We were trying to get the ball inside, which takes more time. And we were horrendous (15 of 28) from the free-throw line.”
The Mustangs took away Lydia Giguere, Waynflete’s leading scorer, holding her to four points, while the Flyers (11-9) held Day in check and allowed her just a couple 3-point attempts, which she missed.
“I know for me, they were trying to take away the 3-point line,” Day said. “When we saw that, we just tried to take it to the hoop and draw some more fouls on them.”
Day opened the fourth quarter with a driving layup in traffic to make it 42-35, but Brooks answered with a bank shot, a free throw and a hook in the lane to make it 42-40.
Allen, Anderson and Day each made one free throw in the final 27 seconds. Giguere was ruled to have fouled Allen intentionally, which gave the Mustangs two shots and the ball.
“I think she was running after her and the girl stopped and she kind of pitched into her,” Waynflete Coach Mike Jeffords said. “The way I saw it, she pitched forward. We certainly coach them to go after the ball.”
Seven players scored for Monmouth in the first half, led by Allen with 12 points. The junior forward moved into the starting lineup early in the season and has performed well since.
“I’ve just stepped it up when I need to,” Allen said. “If other players aren’t making the play, I need to make them.”
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