AUGUSTA — Throughout Tuesday morning’s Class D South quarterfinal game, the Forest Hills girls played defense with the attitude that anybody but Pine Tree Academy’s Alex Goodman could shoot. In the fourth quarter, that philosophy finally paid off for the Tigers.
Down seven points with 2:22 left in the third quarter, Forest Hills proceeded to score the game’s next 18 points, holding the Breakers scoreless until there was 20 seconds left in the game. That defensive effort led to a 42-31 win for the Tigers.
No. 5 Forest Hills (11-8) advanced to the semifinals, where it will take on No. 1 Rangeley (16-3). No. 4 Pine Tree finished 13-6.
In the third quarter, Goodman shook off the Tigers’ tight defense, and seemed determined to beat Forest Hills herself. Goodman scored 10 of her team-high 20 points in the third, and her basket with 2:22 left in the quarter gave the Breakers a 29-22 lead.
Forest Hills captain Caitlin Logston said her team never panicked when Pine Tree went on its run.
“I was just thinking we’ve still got it. We’ve been in games and scenarios where we’ve been down,” Logston, who scored a game-high 25 points, said. “I just say, ‘Hey, come on. Let’s keep playing.’ We’ve all been doing a great job of staying in sync together. So what if we’re down seven points? We’re going to keep scoring.”
A pair of Patricia Lessard (15 points) free throws gave Forest Hills the lead for good, 30-29, with 4:07 left in the game. Logston then scored 10 of the Tigers final 12 points to cap the comeback. Logston and Lessard did a good job in the low post, scoring 40 of the Tigers’ 42 points and getting to the line.
“We talked about it quite often, it’s going to be a grind it out type of game. We’ve got to get the ball inside and draw fouls,” Forest Hills coach Anthony Amero said. “We knew the foul count was going to be in our favor. Some of their key players weren’t on the court, so now we’re getting matchups… and we expoloited that.”
Madison Cuddy drew the primary defensive assignment on Goodman through three quarters, before Amero switched things up and put the smaller, quicker Demi Giroux on the Pine Tree standout. Giroux rewarded Amero with a late steal that all but sealed the win.
“That was the game plan the entire game. We were going to make the other people beat us. It’s kind of a nervous situation, because the Goodman girl is such a good player. She has seen double team, truple team, box and one, you name it, she’s seen those defenses the last two years,” Amero said.
Lessard had 10 rebounds for the Tigers, while Logston grabbed nine boards and had four steals.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
Send questions/comments to the editors.
