Top-seeded Gray-New Gloucester lived up to its billing while rolling to a 57-24 win against No. 8 Freeport in a Class B South girls’ basketball quarterfinal Tuesday afternoon at the Portland Expo.
The Patriots, the defending regional champions, will play No. 5 Lake Region at 2:30 p.m. Thursday at Cross Insurance Arena.
It was Gray-New Gloucester’s third win of the season over the Falcons. Freeport (12-8) stayed within hailing distance for most of the first half, but an 8-0 run just before halftime enabled the Patriots (18-1) to open a 13-point lead.
“They were a team all year who hadn’t played any zone (defense) and they came out and played zone,” GNG Coach Mike Andreasen said. “It was a high–level zone, where they were allowing us to put the ball in the corner and we obliged (them) early on, so our offense was bad. They threw some wrinkles at us and it had its effect.”
The first quarter ended with the Patriots clinging to a 10-9 lead. But Freeport missed all eight of its field-goal attempts in the second quarter and sank just 2 of 7 free throws.
“We just didn’t finish the shots we needed to finish in the open floor, and free throws hurt us,” said Freeport Coach Michael Hart.
Gray-New Gloucester led 24-11 at halftime, and Freeport had to come out of its zone.
“If you don’t keep pace in a zone, you can’t play (it) from behind,” Hart said. “We felt we had to continue to pull out into the full court and try to make something happen.”
The Patriots ended the third quarter with eight straight points to open a 36-19 lead. They finished the game with a 15-1 run.
Andreasen said the game was much closer than the score indicates.
“This was not a 33-point game,” he said. “It was more like a 10- or 12-point game.”
Nine players scored for the Patriots, with Skye Conley putting in a game-high 10 points.
“It’s so hard to shoot in the Expo,” Andreasen said. “It’s not a shooters’ gym. Both teams were missing shots they normally make, so it got to be a game of putbacks and foul shots.”
Gray-New Gloucester sank 16 of 19 free throws and held a 28-20 edge in rebounding.
Despite the lopsided loss, Hart said the girls on his team learned a lot from their tournament experience.
“Anytime you come out and play and just being here in this environment makes a big difference,” he said. “Some of these kids had never been here and didn’t know what to expect. Now they know.”
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