AUGUSTA — Even after her team fell behind by 15 points in the second quarter of a Class C South girls basketball quarterfinal Tuesday night against Buckfield, Winthrop’s Madeline Wagner was bound and determined to make sure the Ramblers wouldn’t leave without their first Augusta Civic Center postseason win in five years.
The senior forward sparked a big comeback, finishing with 15 points, eight rebounds and seven steals as fourth-seeded Winthrop rallied past No. 5 Buckfield, 36-28. After scoring only one field goal in the first quarter, Winthrop held the turnover-plagued Bucks to one field goal in the second half, and none in the game’s final 15 minutes, 31 seconds.
“She’s a heck of a competitor,” Winthrop coach John Baehr said of Wagner. “It’s been a long time since we won on this floor, so I’m proud.”
Winthrop (15-4), whose last postseason win at the Civic Center was the 2020 Class C state final, next plays at 3:30 p.m. Thursday against No. 1 Hall-Dale.
Buckfield’s season ends at 15-4.
How Winthrop did it
• The Ramblers had several open shots in the first quarter, but nothing went in except for an Ella Rice field goal 5:40 into the game. Buckfield, meanwhile, opened a 17-2 lead in the second quarter, paced by five points apiece from Alyssa Bretton and Sarae Devoe.
The Bucks managed just two field goals the rest of the way — a buzzer-beating layup by Chloe Bennett to end the first half and a 3-pointer from Devoe to open the third quarter.
Winthrop cut into its deficit before halftime with a 9-0 run, highlighted by five points from Wagner.
“I told them to keep shooting shots; we were getting decent looks, to shoot with confidence, trust yourself, trust your teammates,” Baehr said. “This game’s about knocking down some shots and we knocked down some shots.
“We talk about defense quite a bit. We didn’t communicate in the first half, we didn’t trust each other or ourselves. It was just being connected and being together and trusting each other.”
• The stats for Winthrop’s Rice were modest (six points, four rebounds, four steals), but the senior was all over the place, lunging after loose balls and firing passes to open teammates.
“She’s the engine that keeps the train running,” Baehr said. “She does everything. She has the ball in her hand a lot, she’ll rebound, she’ll get stops.”
The key moment
Winthrop took its first lead in the game, 28-27, with 5:30 remaining on a pair of Isabella Baehr free throws, the second of which seemed to bounce a half-dozen times before it finally sank through the hoop. Seconds later, Wagner stole the ball at midcourt and passed to Baehr, who sank a 3-pointer that sent the already-charged student section into a frenzy.
“That was definitely the sifting point in the game, where we took the momentum back and we knew that we could win it,” Wagner said.
Key statistics
Winthrop: Madeline Wagner (15 points, eight rebounds, seven steals), Ella Rice (eight points, four steals)
Buckfield: Sarae Devoe (13 points)
They said it
“You can’t be any more proud of the whole team — young kids and older kids — and these three seniors that have been part of this team for four years to get us to come back.” — John Baehr
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