BANGOR — The Winslow girls basketball team wasn’t perfect, but the Black Raiders were close.
No. 6 Winslow opened up a 23-point halftime lead, and cruised to a 55-34 win over No. 3 Mt. Desert Island in the Class B North quarterfinals at Bangor’s Cross Insurance Center. Winslow, now 16-4, advances to Wednesday’s semifinals. The Trojans end the season at 14-5.
“We completed three great quarters. Hopefully Wednesday it’s four quarters,” Winslow coach Lindsey Withee said.
The Black Raiders scored just two points in the fourth, but by then, it didn’t matter. Winslow led 53-23 after three, thanks to tenacious defense and a patient offense. Nine players scored for Winslow, which found the open shooter more often than not.
“We played a lot of unselfish basketball tonight,” Withee said.
TURNING POINT: With Winslow holding a 9-6 late in the first quarter, Weslee Littlefield hit a 3-pointer to double the Black Raiders lead. Littlefield’s three sparked a 26-6 run to halftime for Winslow. It was the first of four 3-pointers made by Winslow in the first half:
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Winslow’s Haley Ward scored 13 points, grabbed five rebounds, and had four steals. Ward’s defensive effort helped Winslow force 18 MDI turnovers. When the Black Raiders took a 35-12 lead into the half, WIthee stressed to the team to not get complacent.
“She said to build on that,” Ward said.
Winslow did, and Ward helped set the tone with a basket 38 seconds into the second half.
“I think we’re playing our best basketball right now, and this is when you want to be playing it,” Ward said.
Maeghan Bernard added nine points for Winslow, while Broghan Gagnon scored eight. Maddy Candage led MDI with nine points and seven rebounds.
HITTING THE BOARDS: Winslow outrebounded the Trojans 19-9 in the first half and finished with 34 boards to MDI’s 24. The Black Raiders had 11 offensive rebounds to keep possessions going.
NEXT UP: Winslow will face No. 2 John Bapst in the semifinals.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
Send questions/comments to the editors.
