SACO — Whenever teams from Biddeford and Thornton Academy square off you know it’s going to be a hard-fought, back-and-forth battle.

The Biddeford and TA girls basketball teams didn’t disappoint on Tuesday night as the Tigers and Golden Trojans battled until the final buzzer.

Thornton Academy rallied from a 6-point halftime deficit to take a 7-point lead into the final quarter only to see the visiting Tigers tie the game with two minutes left. The Trojans got a pair of clutch free throws in the final minute and would hold on for a 42-40 victory.

“It was a great rivalry game and it was a hard-fought game by both teams,” said TA coach Eric Marston.

Biddeford took a 22-16 lead into halftime and Marston challenged his team during the break.

“I just didn’t think we played very hard in the first half and kind of challenged the girls a little bit at halftime. I thought they responded exceptionally well,” said Marston, who decided to go to a full-court press in the second half. “I think (the press) turned the tempo of the game, turned up the pace a little bit.”

The full-court pressure helped the Trojans outscore Biddeford by a 17-4 margin in the third quarter which gave TA a 33-26 lead.

“I think we just lost our confidence a little bit. We were pretty confident in the first half with the basketball, and then we had a couple things not go our way and we got down a little bit mentally and just lost our confidence,” said Biddeford coach Katie Herbine on her team’s struggles with the press. “They’re a good team and good teams make you do that. That’s definitely what (happened) tonight.”

Herbine was happy to see her team respond in the fourth quarter as the Tigers went on a 14-9 run in the final eight minutes.

“I thought we fought hard. When we went down seven, the kids came back and fought hard and believed in themselves, believed we could win and I think that next step for us is to (finish) that game,” Herbine said.

Down by just 1 with under a minute left, the Tigers had several chances to get the go-ahead score, but two shots didn’t fall and then TA forced a turnover.

“It wasn’t exactly what we were looking for,” said Herbine on the Tigers’ offensive series in the final minute. “But I think they did a good job of not turning the ball over and getting a shot, which really is a step (forward) for us. We’ll take it. We’ll do some situational stuff in practice and hopefully the next time we’re in that situation it goes our way.”

Marston wasn’t thrilled with his team’s execution in the victory, but praised his players for giving 100 percent effort until the final buzzer.

“I thought they played extremely hard … we still didn’t execute particularly well offensively and had some mental lapses defensively, but I can’t say anything negative about the effort in the second half at all. I thought they all played their hearts out,” said Marston, who also praised the Tigers. “A lot of credit to Biddeford, I think they played very hard, too.”

Standouts shine

Tuesday night’s game featured two of the best girls basketball players in the state as Biddeford’s Gracie Martin and TA’s Alex Hart went head-to-head.

Martin led all scorers with 23 points and Hart powered the Trojans with a team-high 17 points, including a clutch free throw late in the contest.

“Alex is a great kid and a great player. She’s tough to beat. We tried face-guarding her, went into matchup zone, but she played well tonight,” said Martin of her AAU teammate. “Obviously playing against one of my former teammates and it’s always fun to play against TA. It’s always fun to play against your rival, try to get that win as the underdogs.”

“(Martin is) in our AAU program, so she’s been a great friend and she’s a good competitor. I just love playing against her. She works really hard and pushes me,” added Hart.

Both coaches loved watching the two standouts go back-and-forth.

“There was a time where I was sitting back saying, ‘I kind of wish I wasn’t coaching this game, so it wouldn’t be quite as stressful,’ but that’s a couple good ball players going head-to-head there,” said Marston. “I know they traded baskets a few times. Grace is one of the best players in the state of Maine I think, and I think we have a pretty good one too in Alex, so it was nice to see them kind of go head-to-head. They know each other so it was a fun battle.”

“It’s fun. They’re friends off the court so it’s pretty fun to watch them and watching good basketball. They are both good kids and good players. It’s fun to see,” Herbine added.

Notes

TA’s Alexis Sanders had what turned out to be the game-winning point when she hit 1-of-2 from the foul line with the game tied at 40 with two minutes left … Alana Pettaway had nine points and Amanda Bogardus finished with eight points in the win for TA … Biddeford would get eight points from Taylor Wildes and seven points from Charli Yoho … TA improved to 3-4 on the year, while Biddeford fell to 2-6.

 — Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at [email protected] or at 282-1535 ext. 322.