BANGOR — The players on the Gardiner girls’ basketball team don’t see themselves as sneaking up on everyone.
The Tigers were 7-11 during the regular season, and just about everyone overlooked that none of those losses were by more than 10 points.
Now, after three upset wins in the Eastern Class B tournament, Gardiner will be playing for the regional championship. The ninth-seeded Tigers showed their depth again Wednesday, pulling away from No. 4 Camden Hills in the second half for a 53-42 semifinal victory at the Cross Insurance Center.
“During the regular season, we lost a lot of close games that we definitely could have won,” said Gardiner center Mary Toman, who finished with 18 points, 16 rebounds and four blocked shots. “So our record didn’t come out as we wanted it to, and I think a lot of teams underestimate us because of that. But our record doesn’t show how good of a team we are.”
Gardiner (10-11), which defeated No. 8 Ellsworth in the preliminary round and No. 1 Mt. Desert Island in the quarterfinals, faces No. 2 Presque Isle (18-2) at 2:05 p.m. Saturday.
Camden Hills defeated Gardiner 52-48 in the regular season behind the rebounding of 6-foot-2 center Rachel Pease. This time, Pease picked up two fouls in the first 90 seconds and went to the bench. But even before she sat down, Toman was a demon inside. She scored 13 of Gardiner’s 24 points in the first half and also pulled down 11 rebounds and blocked three shots.
“Since they have such a tall post player in there, I kind of thought I was going to get shut down in the first half,” Toman said. “But I think they underestimated us a little bit. She took Savannah (Vinton-Mullens), so I had the advantage.”
“Mary’s just been getting better and better and better as the season goes on,” Gardiner Coach Mike Gray said. “Just so much improvement. We decided we wanted her to be weak side – to not defend Pease, but defend as soon as Pease got it, to come help side. She did a great job with that.”
Charlotte Messer scored nine of her 17 points in the second quarter for Camden Hills. When Maddie Bowman got a rebound and drove the length of the floor for a three-point play, the Windjammers were on a 13-0 run and led 24-19.
Gardiner led 32-30 late in the third quarter before breaking the game open with a 14-0 run.
Morgan Carver scored eight of her 14 points in the fourth quarter, including a 6 of 6 free throws.
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