PORTLAND, Maine – Throughout the season, the Marshwood High School girls basketball team has rallied from deficits and left the game with a win.
Wednesday’s latest attempt to create such the comeback story fell short, as second-seeded Marshwood fell to No. 3 Gray-New Gloucester, 53-47 in a Class A South semifinal at The Expo.
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“I think we gritted it out to the end, we left it on the court” Marshwood head coach Angie Littlefield said. “I thought what we were able to do, even at the end bringing (the game) within 3 points is nothing to hang our heads about.”
The Hawks trailed 47-42, but an Emily Clark layup, on a Sarah Theriault assist, cut the game to one possession, 47-44 with 42 seconds left. Seconds later, Gray’s Abby Steele made two free throws, and then after a Marshwood missed 3-point attempt, Steele hit two more free throws for a 51-44 Gray lead.
Renee St. Pierre, who came up big in Marshwood’s quarterfinal win, nailed a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left to cut the lead to 51-47. Steele hit another two free throws for the final score.
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Theriault, a senior, scored a team-high 14 points, Isabelle Tice had 12 and St. Pierre had 10. Ella Kenney scored a game-high 20 points for Gray-NG, while Steele had 15.
“I think (the game) was physical all around,” Theriault said. “We had an overtime win against them in the season, and we knew they were going to come out with everything they had. We had to be ready for that; and I think our offense started a little slow.”
Slow start haunts Hawks
Gray-NG stormed out to a 14-2 lead, and Marshwood trailed by 10, 17-7 after the first quarter.
“We were rushing things, and couldn’t hit shots,” Theriault said. “It’s kind of a lot of pressure (at the Expo), and I think we kind of got in our heads a little bit. We kind of eased into the game, but not soon enough for a team good enough like Gray to take advantage of.”
Marshwood cuts deficit to two in third quarter
Marshwood trailed 30-21 at halftime, but found a spark in the third quarter and cut the deficit to two, 34-32, just outside a minute left in the quarter. Steele connected on a 3-pointer to push the lead back to 37-32 going into the fourth.
“(Gray) is a really good shooting team, and we were letting them get to the rim a little bit too easily,” Littlefield said. “We needed to tighten some things up.”
The Hawks went a little more than 4 minutes without scoring in the fourth, and trailed 44-32, but made one last bid to get in the game.
“We have to be able to close the gap, which we did in the third, and then keep it there,” Littlefield said. “The moments at the end of the game don’t matter as much, but I thought they did a great job. That’s something this team has done really well, close the gap, keep it there and then can rally at the end of the game. I thought the effort there at the end was excellent.”
Theriault said Gray did a good job of slowing down the momentum anytime it shifted in Marshwood’s favor.
“They would call a timeout and kind of settle things, or even just huddle together which I saw them do a few times on the court,” Theriault said.
Final words
Marshwood ended the the season with a 17-3 record, substantially better than last year’s 8-10 record and missing out on the Class A South tournament.
Littlefield said the team ‘absolutely’ exceeded expectations.
“We have some strong players,” Littlefield said. “We had gaps we needed to fill, and the girls that filled them were role players last year who really stepped up and became helpful in many ways.”
Theriault said she wouldn’t have changed anything about the season.
“I got to play basketball with my best friends every day,” she said. “No matter how it ended, I’m really thankful for the opportunity I got this year.”
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Marshwood girls basketball loss to Gray-New Gloucester in semifinal
