BANGOR — Going into the Class C girls’ basketball state championship game, Old Orchard Beach had a straightforward plan for winning its first Gold Ball.
The Seagulls knew they were going to need to defend well and control rebounds. And they were going to need another big game from Elise MacNair.
Check. Check. And check again.
MacNair scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and Old Orchard Beach earned its first state title by beating Dexter, 35-24, at Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
“There’s no better way I want to end my senior year,” said MacNair, who averaged 27.2 points in the Seagulls’ four tournament wins. “I’ve said it from the get-go, I wanted to go out with a bang, and this team executed that to a T.”
Seagulls Coach Dean Plante achieved the ideal encore to leading the football team to the eight-man Small School championship in November.
“It’s a great feeling. It’s about student-athletes, we’re blessed with some talent,” said Plante, whose team also got nine points from Sarah Davis. “As long as we don’t screw it up, they seem to take us right to the end.”
The game shaped up as a clash between Dexter’s size, led by 6-foot-2 Mazie Peach, and Old Orchard Beach’s quickness and up-tempo pace. It quickly became clear, though, that the Tigers (20-2) didn’t have an answer for MacNair. The Miss Maine Basketball finalist scored the Seagulls’ first nine points and 13 of their first 15. Old Orchard led 8-5 after the first quarter and stayed in front the rest of the way.
“One of the spots she’s probably grown the most is her basketball I.Q. Every year it gets better, and she understands pace, situations, mismatches,” Plante said. “Through the tournament, it was so impressive to sit back and watch. She’s a next-level player.”
MacNair, who’ll play at Bowdoin College, had no trouble carrying her hot tournament run from Augusta to Bangor.
“This team trusts me to do what I need to do, and I trust them to do the exact same thing,” she said. “The trust and the chemistry that this group has, it’s like no other team I’ve been a part of.”
MacNair also led a defense that played a disciplined 2-3 zone, closed in on shooters and jumped on Dexter’s attempts to push the ball inside. She had three steals, while Davis had four and Tessa Ferguson added two.
Cally Gudroe led Dexter with seven points.
“We saw that their game was a little bit slower than ours and how we play, so we wanted to stick to our game,” Davis said.
Old Orchard led 20-14 at halftime, then allowed only 10 second-half points. Late in the third quarter, Dexter moved the ball around for over a minute looking to crack the Seagulls’ defense, but Old Orchard held tight until the possession ended in a turnover.
“We liked our matchups defensively and what we do, and the kids executed to perfection,” Plante said.
Even rebounding was a win for the Seagulls. Old Orchard outrebounded Dexter 25-24, and forward Summer St. Louis helped hold Peach to four rebounds.
“My game plan was to just box her out and don’t let her get a rebound,” St. Louis said. “Rebounding was a big (key) for this one. … Just because you’re shorter than someone doesn’t mean you can’t get a rebound.”
Her work down low was praised by Plante.
“You’ve got to box out and then go get it,” he said, “and Summer St. Louis was a YouTube video today on how to do it.”
It all came together in a way the Seagulls envisioned all season.
“It feels so surreal,” MacNair said. “I don’t have the proper words to describe how I feel right now.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
