For three quarters Wednesday afternoon, the Mt. Ararat girls’ basketball team couldn’t maintain an offensive rhythm. The Eagles would look good for a possession or two, and then their rhythm would vanish into the Portland Expo air.
Finally, in the fourth quarter, the Eagles found a groove.
A nine-point run gave top-seeded Mt. Ararat its first lead since late in the first half, and the Eagles held on for a 36-30 win over upstart Fryeburg Academy in a Class A South semifinal.
Mt. Ararat (18-2) will face No. 2 Brunswick (18-2), its biggest rival, for the regional title at 7 p.m. Friday at the Expo. The teams split two close games during the regular season.
No. 4 Fryeburg ends the season at 10-10.
Mt. Ararat guard Jenna Jensen, who scored eight of her team-high 11 points in the fourth quarter, said the Eagles finally worked together over the final eight minutes.
“Which we should have done earlier,” Jensen said.
Fryeburg led by as many as six points in the third quarter and held a 25-23 advantage going into the fourth. After a Mira Milosevic layup 16 seconds into the fourth pushed the Raiders lead back to four points, the Eagles went on a 9-0 run. Jensen’s 3-pointer with 6:14 to play gave the Eagles their first lead since the final minute of the second quarter.
“They were vey aggressive up top. They overplayed a lot, and we really couldn’t get anything outside. Even on the inside, it was very difficult,” Jensen said.
Jensen’s 3-pointer was just Mt. Ararat’s second of the game. Fryeburg Coach Kristen Stacy said that was indicative of the hard work her team put in defensively.
“They didn’t make any 3s until the end of the game. In the first half, we held them to zero 3s, and that’s their game. They shoot 3s all night, usually lights out. I think they were a little panicked in the first half,” Stacy said. Our non-negotiable is defense. I always say, no matter what happens, play aggressive defense… They did that. I cannot be disappointed.”
A Milosevic free throw with 1:21 left ended Mt. Ararat’s run, but the Eagles scored the next four points, all from the line, to ice the victory.
Overall, Mt. Ararat struggled at the line, making just 14 of 25 foul shots.
“We’re either really good or really bad from the line. It depends on the day,” Mt. Ararat Coach Julie Petrie said.
After turning the ball over 14 times through the first three quarters, the Eagles committed just one turnover in the fourth. That was a point of emphasis, noted Petrie, as was being patient on offense.
“We threw the ball around way too much in the first half, which is uncharacteristic of us,” Petrie said. “We just needed to run our sets and be more aggressive getting to the basket.”
Julianna Allen added nine points and seven rebounds for Mt. Ararat.
Milosevic had 13 points and 14 rebounds for the Raiders, while Marta Bajic scored seven points.
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