AUGUSTA — With its 12-point lead sliced to one, Old Orchard Beach needed something to silence Monmouth Academy’s comeback.
How about a 23-foot 3-pointer by senior center Christina Colman with just over a minute to play?
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Colman’s shot knocked the Mustangs back, and third-seeded Old Orchard Beach escaped with a 63-57 win in a Western Class C quarterfinal Tuesday at the Augusta Civic Center.
“It was just kind of in the moment. I got a screen from my left and I just figured I’ll try to dribble out and it was just open,” Colman said.
“I figured, you’re ahead by one or two points, it’s not going to hurt. We all kind of calmed down after that.”
If some in the crowd thought Colman attempting such a tough shot was daring, Coach Dean Plante didn’t share that feeling.
“We took 978 shots in the 18 games this season and 400 of them were 3s,” Plante said. “We shoot 3s. That’s what we do, and she’s hit a ton of those. For her to hit that? She’s supposed to, and she knows it and she did.”
Colman finished with 23 points, including a 3-pointer in each quarter, to become the Seagulls’ first 20-point scorer of the season.
Old Orchard Beach (14-5) will face No. 2 Madison at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.
No. 6 Monmouth (14-6) trailed 51-39 early in the fourth quarter before it went to a 1-2-2 three-quarter-court trap and created a slew of turnovers. The Mustangs cut the lead to 53-50 with 4:07 to play when Kylie Kemp (17 points) converted a three-point play on a fast-break layup.
Moments later, Sarah Spencer (11 points) made her third 3-pointer to get Monmouth within 54-53.
“We gave ourselves opportunities. We had a couple layups that we missed right down there at the end,” Monmouth Coach Scott Wing said. “There was definitely no fault with the girls’ effort.”
OOB sophomore Abby Dubois (12 points) took a long rebound in for a layup to boost the lead back to three before Spencer scored on a nice backdoor cut off a pass from Danielle Bumann.
Colman answered with her 3-pointer.
“That was a dagger, and that was a case of us subbing in offense and defense, and we got caught with the wrong girl guarding (Colman) who isn’t as comfortable closing out on her because she’s guarded post players all year,” Wing said.
Monmouth didn’t have anyone who had played at the Civic Center, while OOB has 11 players from last year’s team that lost to Traip Academy in the quarterfinals. The Seagulls’ experience showed early, as they shot well, created turnovers and took the ball to the basket with authority.
“We just had confidence to come in and win, I guess,” Dubois said. “We definitely wanted to get to the next round because this is the last year we have all together.”
Colman’s first 3-pointer, a transition strike, gave OOB a 10-8 lead that was quickly stretched to 17-8.
Monmouth stayed in the game by making 22 of 29 free throws (Kemp was 11 of 15).
Old Orchard junior Julie Fregeau hit 3-pointers late in the first half and early in the third to help push the lead to double digits.
Staff Writer Steve Craig can be reached at 791-6413 or at:
scraig@mainetoday.com
Twitter: SteveCCraig
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