Christina Aceto is not a natural scorer. The South Portland junior is a skilled playmaker and tough defender, but much of the time she seems content to let her teammates finish on offense.
In the crunch, though, she will do whatever it takes to lead the Lady Riots to victory and Tuesday that meant taking the ball to the basket late in the game.
Though she scored just eight points, they were big points, and they helped South Portland beat back a late-surging Biddeford team, 50-43, in double overtime of a Class A west quarterfinal at the Cumberland County Civic Center.
The victory sets up a much-anticipated showdown with rival McAuley (18-1) tonight (Feb. 23) at the CCCC at 8:30. Seven weeks ago the Riots let their lead slip away in the third quarter and lost on the road to the Lions by six.
Third-seeded South Portland (16-3) also went out to an early lead against ninth-ranked Biddeford (11-9), jumping on the Tigers in the first quarter. Jessica Aceto scored all of her nine points in the opening period, including a pair of three-pointers, to put her team up 15-6 after one.
“She played an unreal game,” Christina Aceto said about her kid sister. “She’s so capable of everything on the court. She shot so well and her defense was amazing.”
That defense was on Biddeford’s Emily Rousseau, who averaged more than 19 points a game to lead the SMAA during the season. The junior guard poured in 32 in the Tigers’ preliminary win over Massabesic, but Jessica Aceto, Kelsey Flaherty and the rest of the Riots’ defense held her to just two buckets in the first half.
Both offenses slowed in the second quarter and South Portland held a 22-9 lead at the break, but Biddeford coach Ronald Cote wasn’t about to let his team go down without a fight.
“I told the kids at halftime, ‘That’s the poorest half we’ve played all year,'” Cote said. “I said, ‘Hey, we’re going to go out second half and we’re going to press and we’re going to run and give our all-out effort,’ and I couldn’t ask for anything more than what they gave in the second half.”
Rousseau started the second half with a hoop and two minutes later got the ball inside to Erin Hussey (six points) for an easy basket. The Tigers were getting better shots and they were more energetic on defense.
Freshman guard Aimee Mortensen (12 points) drove to the basket to cut the lead to nine midway through the period. After a three-point play from Jackie Rice (16 points) with under a minute on the clock, Rousseau corralled a loose ball and sent it down the court to a streaking Mortenson, who laid it in and was fouled.
Riots forward Brianna Hawkins hit back with a put-back, but Rousseau drained a three at the buzzer. Though Biddeford was still down, 29-23, they had the momentum going into the final period.
“The way Emily Rousseau carried her team back into the game is really commendable,” Christina Aceto said. “We knew that if we came out strong we could take the game away and we did, but the second half was going to be a different game because Rousseau and Mortensen have the ability to make a lot of shots in a row. Emily Rousseau just came down and brought her team back into the game.”
Rousseau struck again early in the fourth, hitting another shot from behind the arc to cut the margin to just two, and then with 4:47 left in regulation, she gave the Tigers their first lead since the game’s opening minutes, 32-31.
“(Rousseau) stepped up and showed the type of player she is,” said South Portland coach Mike Giordano. “Good players will shine, and she started to take over the game. We just wanted to keep pressure on her the whole time and make everything she did an effort. Then she got in that little rhythm and almost took the game away.”
Enter the Riots own floor leader. With free throws tying the game at 33, Christina Aceto scored her first points of the night on a drive to the hoop with three minutes left in the fourth. She hit a foul shot 30 seconds later for a three-point lead.
Again Biddeford struck back, as a Mortensen lay-up tied it and a pair of Rousseau free throws gave the underdogs the lead with half a minute to go. The elder Aceto, third in the league in assists, took the ball to the hoop herself and sent the game into overtime.
The squads traded buckets in the first OT, but when Rousseau (16 points) fouled out with six seconds on the clock, the end was near for the Tigers. Aceto and Rice combined for seven of their team’s nine points in the second extra period, while Biddeford could only muster a single Mortensen lay-up.
“My premise is that you always win with guards and they’ve got two of the best in the league,” said Giordano, “and I thought if they went off they could do what they did. Give them credit for not quitting when we had them down early.”
South Portland has some pretty good guards themselves, and they will have to play their best game of the year to beat McAuley, as will the forwards who will be tasked with stopping 6-foot-2 Lions center Ashley Cimino.
“I’m excited and any game against a team like McAuley is going to be fun,” said Christina Aceto. “They’re great competitors and we are, too.”
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