NYA girls close regular season with win over Sacopee Valley

YARMOUTH—Wednesday evening at Curtis Gymnasium, North Yarmouth Academy’s girls’ basketball team enjoyed a regular season-ending victory over visiting Sacopee Valley.

And if you want to sum up the game in one simple phrase, it would be this:

Gee for 3.

On a night where the Panthers’ lone senior, Graca Bila, was honored, it was Gee, a junior, who stole the show and helped her team cap a better-than-expected regular season with an emphatic victory.

Gee made a pair of 3-pointers in the game’s first 34 seconds and she was just getting started.

NYA led the Hawks, 11-8, after one quarter and extended that advantage to 22-15 at the half, as Gee had three 3-pointers and 11 points to lead the way.

The Panthers then broke the game open in the third period, as Gee hit three more 3s and junior Ella Giguere added eight points of her own to make the score 43-19.

Gee then buried two more 3s in the fourth and NYA cruised to a 59-30 triumph.

Gee made a total of eight 3s, tallied a game-high 28 points and helped the Panthers finish 17-1, tying last year’s squad for the best mark in program history, lock up the top seed for the upcoming Class C South tournament and in the process, drop Sacopee Valley to 11-7.

“The one first one rolled in, then I caught on fire,” Gee said. “I just wanted to keep shooting.”

Another dominant campaign

Since Tom Robinson took over the program in 2018, NYA has averaged 17 wins in his four full seasons (the 2020-21 campaign was abbreviated by the pandemic) and reached the Class C South Final on three occasions, but haven’t been able to take that final step.

After graduating all-time program-great Angel Huntsman and fellow standout Sarah English (both of whom are now playing in college), the Panthers were expected by many to take a step back this winter, but that hasn’t been the case.

NYA started by beating host St. Dom’s (56-31), then it defeated visiting Winthrop (45-42), before handling host Carrabec (76-31), host Monmouth Academy (65-27), visiting Dirigo (65-14) and visiting Poland (58-35), holding off host Sacopee Valley (39-33), then downing host Kents Hill (82-25), edging host Waynflete (45-42) and beating visiting Traip Academy (49-19), Old Orchard Beach (42-24), Waynflete (53-21) and St. Dom’s (63-26). The Panthers finally fell from the unbeaten ranks Jan. 27 with a 61-38 loss at Hall-Dale, but bounced back to beat host Traip Academy (54-18), visiting Carrabec (55-31) and host Old Orchard Beach (48-36).

“Credit to the girls,” Robinson said. “They’ve done a really good job. We’ve had good leadership this year with Graca and Ella. It’s a fun unit. They get along and share the ball. Everyone does something well and we put the pieces together. We have some size. We don’t play as fast as we have, but we have good athletes.”

Sacopee Valley, meanwhile, has enjoyed three different three-game win streaks this season, but lost its last outing, 47-30, to visiting Waynflete Monday.

In the teams’ first meeting Jan. 4, Bila led the way with 16 points as NYA did just enough in the fourth quarter to prevail. Senior Emma Boulanger had 17 points for the Hawks.

Wednesday, after Bila, the Panthers’ lone senior, was honored with her family in a pregame ceremony, NYA capped its campaign with another victory.

NYA junior Ella Giguere defends Sacopee Valley senior Alexa Schroeder early in the Panthers’ 59-30 win Wednesday. Hoffer photos.

Gee hinted at a huge night to come when she took a pass from Bila and shot a 3-pointer 12 seconds in, a shot which bounced on the rim multiple times before dropping.

The next time down the floor, Giguere found Gee for another 3-point shot, which this time, found nothing but net for a 6-0 lead with 7:26 still to play in the first quarter.

“We knew Athena’s a shooter,” Bila said. “We love seeing her come out strong like that.”

The Hawks got on the board with 4:38 remaining in the frame, on a leaner from Boulanger, then junior Bridget Landry cut the deficit to two with a basket before junior Emily Robbins hit a jumper for the Panthers to make it 8-4.

Sacopee Valley again drew within two on a short jumper from junior Emma Sanborn, which rolled in, but Giguere made a free throw, then off an inbounds set, Giguere found Robbins for a layup.

In the final minute, Landry scored on a leaner, but NYA took an 11-8 lead to the second period.

The Hawks then cut the deficit to just one when Landry drove for a layup and had multiple chances to go on top, but couldn’t convert before a Robbins bank shot restored the three-point advantage.

With 3:42 left in the half, Boulanger set up junior Amara Parker for a layup to again make it a one-point game, but 24 seconds later, Gee countered with her third 3 of the game.

After Parker hit a jumper for the visitors, Gee stole the ball and fed Giguere for a layup.

With 1:14 on the clock, Landry made a free throw, but Sacopee Valley wouldn’t score again for a long time.

With just over a minute to go, Gee hit a jumper inside the stripe, then Bila drove for a layup and her lone field goal to push the lead to 22-15 at the break.

Gee led the way with 11 first half points, while Robbins added six. Landry paced the Hawks with seven.

The Panthers then broke the game open with a 21-4 third quarter run.

NYA sophomore Ava Wilkinson goes up for two.

The second half commenced as the first did, with a Gee 3-pointer.

Then Giguere, scored six points a 43-second span.

After sophomore Ava Wilkinson had a block at the defensive end, Robbins got the ball to Giguere for a breakaway layup. Giguere then took a pass from Gee and made another easy layup before being fouled on another layup attempt and hitting both free throws with 5:17 remaining to make it 31-15.

Wilkinson then added a foul shot before Boulanger scored on a layup with 3:03 to go, ending the Panthers’ 14-0 run and a 6 minute, 11 second scoring drought and a 7:21 field goal drought.

Sanborn added a putback, but that’s as close as Sacopee Valley would get.

NYA closed the quarter with 11 more points, as Wilkinson converted an old-fashioned three point play (layup, foul, free throw), Gee took a pass from Giguere and drained a long 3, then she buried another off a feed from Bila before Gee set up Giguere for another layup and a commanding 43-19 advantage heading to the final stanza.

There, the Panthers put the finishing touches on their regular season and another victory.

Bila began the fourth period with a free throw, then Gee drained yet another 3.

After Boulanger answered with two foul shots, Gee took a pass from Giguere and with 6:27 to go, made her eighth and final 3-pointer for a 50-21 lead.

Wilkinson added a bank shot, Gee scored on a putback for her final points (at that juncture, she was outscoring the Hawks team, 28-21), then Wilkinson put home a miss as well to make it 56-21.

Senior Alexa Schroeder answered with a layup for Sacopee Valley, but Giguere hit a bank shot.

Down the stretch, Boulanger made two foul shots and Schroeder knocked down a 3 and after Wilkinson hit a free throw for NYA’s final point, a late basket from Boulanger accounted for the 59-30 final score.

“We just talked to each other and supported each other at halftime and we just focused on our defense,” said Bila.

Gee had herself a night, scoring 28 points on 10 field goals, with eight coming from behind the 3-point stripe. She also had six rebounds, three assists and two steals.

“Athena was on tonight and we were looking for her,” Robinson said. “She can shoot the ball. She plays good defense and can rebound for her size. She does a lot out there and makes us a better team.”

Giguere was a key contributor as well with 13 points, seven assists, four rebounds and three steals. Wilkinson added nine points, 11 rebounds and three steals, Robbins had six points, five rebounds and three steals and Bila said farewell to Curtis Gymnasium with three points, eight rebounds, six assists and three steals.

“It was really special, my last home game,” Bila said. “I really enjoyed it.”

“(Graca) can do everything,” Gee said. “She can drive, shoot. I’ve learned a lot playing with her.”

“Graca is a great athlete,” Robinson added. “She brings energy. The kids gravitate to her. Most of her friends last year were seniors and I wasn’t sure how she’d react, but this year has been seamless. I don’t think she’s missed a practice or a game in four years.”

The Panthers made eight 3-pointers to Sacopee Valley’s one, enjoyed a 42-38 rebounding advantage and overcame 7-of-19 foul shooting and 13 turnovers.

The Hawks were paced by Boulanger, who had a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds, as well as four blocked shots and two assists. Landry added seven points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. Schroeder finished with five points, while Parker and Sanborn (six rebounds, two steals) each had four.

Sacopee Valley made just 5-of-12 free throws and committed 29 turnovers.

Off to Augusta

Sacopee Valley is ranked fifth in the Class C South Heal Points standings and will either host a preliminary round contest next week or go to the Augusta Civic Center for the quarterfinals on Tuesday, Feb. 20.

That date is when NYA will return to action. The Panthers don’t know their foe, but they’ll play the late game that evening in the quarterfinals.

And they’re ready to make another run at that elusive title, even if they have to go through Hall-Dale to get there.

“We’re really excited,” Bila said. “This year has been a surprise to me. We knew early in the season we had found our game. We just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing. Focus on ourselves and our game and support each other.”

“I thought we’d be better than a lot of people did, but I’m a little surprised,” Gee said. “We worked as a team every practice to get better and play our own game and we don’t let other teams determine our play. We’ve really come together. It’s a big difference shooting up there (in Augusta), but I’m looking forward to it. I think we can make a run.”

“If we had gone up (to Hall-Dale) and lost by 20 and played really well, I’d be worried, but we turned the ball over a ton in that first game,” Robinson added. “They play tough man-to-man defense. I don’t think we were ready for that. It helped playing them once. They’re good and they’re deep.

“We won’t overlook anybody. We’ll see the matchups and whose style can give us trouble. Every matchup is different. It won’t be easy. Last year, I felt we’d get to the final, but this year, it would be a really good accomplishment.”