Lake Region 35
Waterville 54
It doesn’t matter what the final score was in the state Class B title game at the Bangor Auditorium last Friday night, the Lake Region girls can still call themselves champions.
The Lakers fell short of their goal of breaking through and capturing the state title, losing to undefeated Waterville 54-35, but they can take solace in the fact that they captured the Class B Western championship for the third year in a row.
After the game, Laker coach Paul True said while losing three consecutive state title games is difficult, he knows it is just as difficult to get there three years in a row, so his team can look back on this season with pride.
“We’re still winning the West and we’re still bringing the Class B runner-up plaque home to our school and that’s nothing to be ashamed of,” True said. “Would I like to win one of these? Absolutely, but that doesn’t take anything away from my experience or the kids’ experience.”
This was the second year in a row that the Lakers faced off against the Panthers with the Gold Ball on the line, and while the this year’s final score was not as close as last year’s 52-51 battle, the Lakers gave the Panthers, who came into the game riding a 43-game winning streak, everything they could handle for three quarters before foul trouble and missed shots did in the Lakers.
True said that having the team’s three seniors having to sit out because of early foul trouble was a huge obstacle for the Lakers to overcome. “No question (foul trouble was a problem), my three seniors were all sitting on the bench. Krysti (Leach), Erica (Webb) and Renee (Nicholas) all had three fouls and obviously that was a huge factor for us, and we haven’t had foul trouble all year wrong.”
Nicholas agreed with her coach, but added that the Lakers’ bench was able to step up to try and keep the team in the game. “That hurt us,” she said. “But we dug deep into our bench.”
The game got off to an inauspicious start as both teams were sent back to their locker rooms after warm-ups due to a leak in the roof. The game was delayed 25 minutes while officials gazed up at the arena’s ceiling and tried to come up with a plan to make the court safe to play the game.
While cheerleaders and mascots from both squads did their best to entertain the crowd, the Maine Principals’ Association officials finally came up with a decidedly low-tech solution to the problem. They recruited two students from the Waterville crowd, gave them towels and event staff shirts and had them run out and dry up the floor every time the action moved to the other end.
With that problem solved, the two teams retook the floor and the Lakers came out fast to start the game.
After Waterville moved out to an early 5-4 lead, Nicholas, who had a game-high 16 points, got white-hot and took the game over.
With 5:36 left to go, Nicholas grabbed an offensive rebound and laid it back in to put Lake Region up 6-5. Then, Nicholas stole the ensuing inbounds pass and got another quick hoop, and the Lakers were up 8-5.
But Nicholas wasn’t through.
After a Waterville turnover, Nicholas drained a long three-pointer, and then, incredibly the Lakers managed to steal another inbounds pass and turn it into points. This time is was sophomore guard Abby Hancock who got the ball and scored while being fouled, Hancock hit the free throw, and with 4:55 left, the Lakers, thanks to a 12-0 run, were up 14-5.
But that’s when the trouble started.
Immediately after that play, Nicholas picked up her second foul, forcing her to the bench, Webb, who also picked up two early fouls, also joined her there. The Panthers took advantage of the situation, and by the end of the first, had closed the gap to 16-12.
True said losing Nicholas when she was so hot changed the game for the Lakers. “We were able to pressure the basketball with Renee on the floor,” he said. “When Renee got in foul trouble and she came out, defensively we were just a little bit of a different team. She’s a fantastic defender and she created a lot of easy basket opportunities in the first quarter. So that really hurt.”
With Nicholas in foul trouble, the Panthers began to take advantage, switching up their defense and working the ball inside to 6-foot center Morgan Frame, who ended up with 14 points.
Frame was also a factor for Waterville on the defensive side of the floor, preventing the Lakers from moving the ball inside forcing them to settle for outside shots. True said he felt his team was too dependent on the three-pointer as the first half went on. “We relied too much on the perimeter shot in the second quarter,” True said. “We took eight threes and I think four shots inside the three point line, and that wasn’t the kind of balance we were looking for.”
Still, despite that fact, the Lakers held onto the lead until 1:35 in the first half, when Waterville’s Taylor Hart hit a layup to put the Panthers up 21-20, which was the way things stayed until halftime.
After the break, the foul problems continued for the Lakers, Webb picked up her fourth foul just 1:30 into the quarter and Waterville began to put the game away, moving out to a 43-26 lead after three.
The fourth quarter was no better for the Lakers, as they were unable to make up the deficit, and with Nicholas (who would eventually foul out) and Webb in foul trouble, the Lakers managed only nine fourth quarter points, and when the buzzer sounded, Waterville had won 54-35.
Nicholas said the last moments of the game were the hardest for her. “The last minute of the game, when you know it’s not yours, you just break down, and that’s just hard,” she said.
After the game, True said he spoke to his team, telling them to focus on all of the positive things they achieved this season. “Basically, I just let them know how proud I was of them and how they should be extremely proud for what they’ve accomplished, representing the West the last three years,” True said. “Some nights the ball just doesn’t drop in for you, but every single night, these kids bring their best effort and they did tonight.”
True said he feels the future is bright for the three-time Class B Western champions, especially since so many members of this year’s team will be coming back. True said the fact that so many of his players will come into next season having experienced what it’s like to play on the biggest stage in Class B will give them confidence. “It’s huge, we’ve got eight sophomores on this team and it’s just a wonderful experience,” he said.
Looking back on her career, Nicholas said that while she would have loved to have hoisted the Gold Ball, she knows that three straight regional titles are something to be proud of. “The gold would have been nice, but I’ll settle for this,” she said. “All the girls played their hearts out and it’s just a great accomplishment to come here three years in a row. We’ll just keep our heads up and look back at it as a great experience. It was fun, it was a great ride.”
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