Don’t call it a dynasty.
The Lake Region and Falmouth girls met a year ago to determine the Western Class B regional champions, and the Lakers took the win to get their second regional title in a row. Saturday at the Civic Center in Portland, the teams met again, and Falmouth came looking for some payback.
The Yachtswomen jumped out to an early 13-6 lead in the second quarter, but the Lakers roared back with a 13-4 run, sparked by a three-pointer from sophomore Meghan Craffey. The Lakers went into halftime with a 21-19 lead and hung on in the second half to win their third straight regional title by the final score of 37-33.
“I’m not sure that we’re looking at it like it’s a dynasty at all,” said Lake Region coach Paul True. “I think we have developed a program with kids that really work hard, and put the team first, in front of themselves.”
Senior Renee Nicholas paced the Lakers with 12 points, including four in the final 30 seconds from the free throw line, had eight rebounds and four steals, and was named tournament MVP. Craffey finished with eight points, with two three-pointers in the second quarter, and Morgan McClean added six points.
For Falmouth, seven players scored at least once, providing a balanced offensive attack for the Yachtswomen. Morgan Furman, a senior forward, paced the team with 11 points, and senior guard Paige Wyman had seven, with five in the first half.
Falmouth wasted no time after the opening tap, jumping out to an early 10-6 lead by the end of the first quarter. Five different players put up points in the quarter for the Yachtswomen, and junior forward Kelsey Graffam put the Lakers on their heels with four points and two assists in the first.
A three-point play from Wyman to start the second quarter put the Lakers in an early 13-6 hole.
“I thought Falmouth did a great job early on controlling the tempo, and obviously without us scoring any baskets, it’s really hard for us to get the game going up and down the floor, which is the game we like to play,” said True.
“I think it was just nerves getting to us,” said Erica Webb, one of three senior captains for the Lakers. “We were really nervous coming out here, but we got our feet under us, and after a while, we got on a roll and kept going with it.”
The Lakers called a timeout to halt Falmouth’s momentum and regroup. Craffey, a three-point sharpshooter, came into the game for the Lakers, adding an outside threat to their inside game.
“We knew what we had to do,” said Nicholas. “Falmouth played some great defense, but we used our other strengths, our shooters, which definitely came through. If we got stuck, we could throw it out to our shooters. We have a good, well-rounded team.”
The two teams traded baskets following the timeout, but Craffey made it a four-point game, 15-11, on her first three-pointer of the quarter, sparking the Lakers to go on a 13-4 run that finished with another three from Craffey, sending Lake Region into halftime with a 21-19 lead.
“Coach True, and all the coaches, and all my teammates have faith in me, and they gave me some confidence, and I just let them go, and they went in,” said Craffey.
“When she gets her feet set, and keeps the ball off of the floor, she is a great standstill shooter with a very good range,” said True. “We wanted to take advantage of those opportunities when she was open.”
Lake Region opened strong in the second half, getting seven points on the first three baskets of the third quarter and increased their lead to 28-19.
A three-pointer from Falmouth’s Andrea Doyle closed the gap a bit, and the teams went into the final quarter with the score at 30-24 in favor of Lake Region.
Falmouth’s full press defense held the Lakers to three early points in the fourth, and the Yachtswomen pulled within three points, 33-30, with 2:30 left in the game, giving Lake Region all they could handle in the closing minutes.
“I think we just stuck to our guns and played good, solid defense, and were really patient on offense, and just kept our composure,” said Webb.
“There’s some strong leadership on that team,” said True. “Coach (George) Conant does a great job, so we knew it was going to be a battle to the end.”
Down to the last 30 seconds, Lake Region looked to get the ball to Nicholas inside under the basket. They did, and Nicholas was able to draw the fouls to send her to the free throw line. Four crucial free throws put the game away and secured Lake Region’s third straight regional championship.
“I remember looking up to her a lot; she’s such a hard worker,” said Craffey, of Nicholas. “In practice, she’s always pushing us to do our best, and does the same in games. It’s such a privilege to play with her.”
“She’s been a huge leader, she’s an inspiration, and there’s nobody that works harder than she does,” said True. “I knew that (Falmouth) would try to trap and double-team, and obviously, (Nicholas) with her strength and physical ability, wanted to get the ball in her hands.”
On paper, it looked as though this year would be a rebuilding year rather than another championship year for the Lakers, as the team features only three seniors, no juniors, and eight sophomores. Yet that mixture of youth and experience has paid off in form of a third straight regional title, and another shot at a state championship.
“One of the items we addressed after the game is this team has dealt with a lot of adversity this year,” said True. “We had two juniors that didn’t come out and play, we had another sophomore starter who didn’t last through the season, and this group of kids just persevered, and those eight sophomores are good basketball players. I just couldn’t be prouder of them.”
“We have great team chemistry, and we know where we all are,” said Nicholas, a team captain. “Our sophomores step up when we need them to, and they take a big role on our team, obviously. At the beginning of the year, you could tell they were nervous, but they’ve stepped into big shoes. They know the roles they have to take.”
“We all bonded really well this year. They taught us how to control ourselves out on the court, how to play our own game, and not getting too nervous,” said Craffey. “We’re all here for each other, and we have such a powerful team coming up, and I can’t wait.”
Lake Region will have their third straight shot at a state title when they travel to Bangor to take on Waterville on Friday night.
“This is by far the biggest challenge that we’ve ever had going into the state game,” said True. “Waterville is the team to beat. They’ve been the best all year long, and defensively we’ve got to play tough, and I know the kids are going to play hard.”
“We want it more this year,” said Nicholas. “We had a taste of it the last two years, but we want to know what it feels like this time.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
