AUGUSTA—Early start times haven’t bothered Waynflete’s second-ranked girls’ basketball team at all this week in the Class D South tournament at the Augusta Civic Center.

After rolling past No. 7 Islesboro in the quarterfinals Monday morning, the Flyers returned to the capital city Thursday at 10 a.m., to face third-seeded Forest Hills and it was more of the same.

A quick start leading to a decisive victory and the opportunity to play another game.

Waynflete raced to a 19-1 lead after one quarter, thanks in part to forcing 15 Tigers’ turnovers, and held a 29-10 advantage, as junior sharpshooter Lauren McNutt-Girouard and senior standout Lucy Hart led the way.

The teams traded 12-0 runs in the third quarter, then the Flyers pulled away for a 52-26 victory.

McNutt-Girouard had a game-high 17 points, Hart and senior Maeve Mechtenberg added 13 apiece and Waynflete improved to 15-5, ended Forest Hills’ season at 14-6 and advanced to battle top-seeded Valley (20-0) in the Class D South Final Saturday at 1 p.m., in Augusta.

“It’s nice starting early,” said Hart. “It’s the first game of the day and it’s exciting. It’s very important to come out strong. We tried to come out with a lot of speed and catch them off guard and it worked out in our favor.”

Step two

Waynflete started with six straight victories and ultimately won 13 of 18 games to earn the No. 2 seed in Class D South (see sidebar for links to previous stories).

Monday, the Flyers dominated No. 7 Islesboro from start to finish in a 58-16 quarterfinal round victory.

Forest Hills, meanwhile, started with five straight wins and wound up going 13-5 before defeating sixth-ranked Pine Tree Academy, 50-28, in its quarterfinal Monday.

The teams didn’t play this year, but did meet in the tournament twice in the 1990s, with the Tigers capturing both (see sidebar for results).

Wednesday, it took the Flyers a couple minutes to get rolling, but it wasn’t long until they had a healthy lead and were on their way to another victory.

With 5:49 left in the first quarter, Hart stole the ball and went in for a layup to put Waynflete in front for good.

The Tigers got their lone point of the frame 17 seconds later, on a free throw from senior Carli Frigon, but the final 17 went to Waynflete.

McNutt-Girouard got going with a 3 pointer, then senior Jojo Moriba set up senior Maeve Mechtenberg in transition for a layup and after a Forest Hills timeout, McNutt-Girouard drained a 3, Hart twice made layups after steals, Mechtenberg hit a 3 from the corner and just before the horn a short jumper from senior Sara Levenson made it 19-1 after one period.

“Our good start helped us the rest of the game,” said Hart.

“The girls seem to roll with (the early start time) and love it,” added Waynflete coach Andrew Leach. “I feel like we were a little sleepy early and made mistakes, but we enjoy the early game time because we when it’s going to be and there won’t be any delays.”

Hart and McNutt each had six points and the Flyers forced 15 Tigers’ turnovers.

Waynflete maintained its advantage in the second period.

McNutt-Girouard started the frame with a layup (from junior Lydia Birknes), then McNutt-Girouard set up Mechtenberg for another layup before Forest Hills made its first field goal, a driving layup from sophomore Addison Chaisson, with 6 minutes left in the half.

After Hart set up McNutt-Girouard for a breakaway layup, Frigon and senior Kylie Yu each made a free throw before sophomore Janessa Moffit sank a pair to make it 25-7.

The Flyers’ offense then reawakened, as Hart set up McNutt-Girouard for a layup and Hart stole the ball and made a layup.

“The beauty of our defense is having Lucy and Lauren at the front swarming,” Leach said. “It gets us easy opportunities for layups. Once we get defensive stops, we seem to settle in. From scouting and checking the landscape of girls’ basketball, I’ve noticed there aren’t teams that press as consistently as we do. We identify ourselves with our defense. That gives us a great opportunity against any team. Lucy is swarming all over the place, all the time and makes us all look great.”

In the waning seconds, senior Aurelie Poulin made a free throw, missed the second, then Chaisson got the offensive rebound and passed to Moffit for a layup to pull the Tigers within 29-10 at the break.

McNutt-Girouard scored 12 points in the first half, while Hart had eight points, six steals and four assists.

Waynflete then broke it open with a 12-0 run to start the third quarter.

The run began with a layup from sophomore Ayla Stutzman, set up by Mechtenberg, then a Mechtenberg corner 3, followed by a Hart jumper and a Hart old-fashioned three-point play, which saw her steal the ball, race in, change directions, make a layup while being fouled, then, after shouting in triumph, hitting the and-one free throw to make it 39-10.

“You have to show a little emotion,” Hart said. “That was a key point in the game and it felt really good to get the and-one and finish with the free throw.”

After McNutt-Girouard scored on a putback, Yu banked in a 3 to end the surge, then a parade of foul shots ensued, as Frigon made one, added a pair, then Chaisson went to the line four times in the final minute and made six of eight attempts to cut the deficit to 41-22 heading to the fourth period.

There, the Flyers’ starters returned and put it away once and for all.

Mechtenberg ended Forest Hills’ 12-0 run with a 3-pointer 31 seconds in and after Chaisson scored on a runner in the lane, Levenson banked home a 3, then Levenson set up McNutt-Girouard for a 3 in the corner and the coup-de-grace to make it 50-24 with 2:39 remaining.

In the waning moments, with both benches cleared, freshman Melynda Worster made a layup for the Tigers and junior Kadija Ali made one at the other end for Waynflete to bring the curtain down on the 52-26 victory.

“The past three years have been rough with basketball, but we deserve this, it’s finally our time,” said Mechtenberg. “I was a little more hopeful moving down to Class D, but I didn’t actually think we’d make it this far.”

“I can’t tell you how happy I for this group,” said Leach. “There were a lot of games through COVID, playing really great teams and the girls stuck it out knowing they didn’t have a chance to win, but they kept fighting. We wanted so badly to make it to playoffs last year. We just missed it. To get this opportunity with this group of seniors, it’s what I wanted for them. Now we can keep extending it, one more practice, one more game.”

McNutt-Girouard led the Flyers in scoring for the second straight game, making three 3s and finishing with 17 points, to go with four assists.

Hart excelled again with 13 points, 10 steals, eight assists and three rebounds.

Mechtenberg rose to the occasion as well, scoring 13 points, grabbing six rebounds and adding four steals.

“I noticed in warmups that I was draining some (3s) from the corner, so I decided that’s where I’d shoot from today and it worked out,” said Mechtenberg. “I knew I could do it. It was refreshing to be a big part of the offense. I’ve had games in the past where I locked in and I was able to do that.”

“Maeve played such a great game today,” said Hart. “Her shots were falling, her defense was great. I’m so happy for her.”

“We know who our big two are and we know everyone else knows that, so we need others to step up and Maeve showed up big for us today,” Leach added.

Levenson finished with five points, while Ali and Stutzman (six steals, three rebounds) had two apiece.

Waynflete made 22 field goals to Forest Hills’ five, had a 7-1 advantage in made 3-pointers, hit its one free throw and overcame 27 turnovers.

The Tigers got 10 points from Chaisson, five from Frigon (who also had seven rebounds and five assists), four apiece from Moffit and Yu, two from Worster and one from Poulin (who also had five rebounds and three steals).

Getting closer

Waynflete didn’t face Valley this season. The Flyers won both prior playoff encounters, 46-35, in the 2002 Western D semifinals and 46-39 in the 2003 regional final en route to their first championship.

Now, Waynflete is two wins away from a third (the Flyers won Class C in 2013).

“We just have to stay positive and keep moving fast,” Mechtenberg said. “We have to keep our rotations going and see if someone can make that first 3 and see where we can go from there.”

“It’s so exciting,” Hart said. “I’ve never been to Augusta before, so to go to regional finals, it’s pretty special. I’m really looking forward to it. We’ll keep going in practice, work on our focus and prepare our best for Saturday.”

“Valley’s really, really balanced as far as 3-point shooting, their fastbreak is incredible, (freshman Brianna Mills) is phenomenal in the post and they have great free throw shooters,” Leach added. “They’re a complete playoff team. It’s very important to not get into foul trouble and stay disciplined on defense. If we can set our press and make it difficult for them, I think it’s anybody’s game. The 17-point first quarter isn’t something we can rely on. We have to manage our emotions and be ready to go.”

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. For game updates and links to game stories, follow him on Threads: @foresports2023

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