Poland used a stifling man-to-man defense to pull off a 37-30 upset of No. 2 Wells in a Class B South girls’ basketball quarterfinal Tuesday at the Portland Expo.
The seventh-seeded Knights (12-7) will play No. 6 Lincoln Academy (14-5) at 1 p.m. Thursday at Cross Insurance Arena.
A switch in Poland’s defensive strategy caught the Warriors off guard.
“We’d seen them several times and we played them two weeks ago,” said Wells Coach Don Abbott, “and everything they put on film is mostly zone, zone, zone, and that’s what we practiced against most of the week. We were a little disjointed at the start.”
The Warriors ended the regular season with a six-game winning streak and recorded a 37-30 road victory over Poland on Feb. 7.
“We typically have played zone (defense) all year because we’re small. We’re tiny,” said Poland Coach Mike Susi. “We felt after the first time we played them we could really get out and pressure them.”
“Last game, we came out in a zone defense, and today we played man and put a lot of pressure on the ball,” said Poland’s Nathalie Theriault, a junior guard. “It was really beneficial. It sparked our offense.”
Poland held a 16-9 lead at the end of a first half that featured hard-nosed defensive performances by both teams.
The Knights hit 6 of 13 shots to build their lead despite making 13 turnovers in the first half. Wells was just 4 for 14 in the half and committed 18 turnovers.
Wells (13-6) climbed back into the game in the third quarter. Megan Schneider scored eight of her 15 points during the quarter and Wells took a 22-21 lead into the fourth.
“We had all the momentum in the world going into the fourth quarter, it looked like,” Abbott said, “and they stifled us a little bit.”
The Knights regained the lead early in the fourth when Sarah Moody hit her third 3-pointer. Moody led Poland with 13 points.
After Schneider sank one free throw, Theriault scored eight straight points and the Knights had a 34-24 lead.
“She got a couple of steals late that led to run outs, a couple of offensive rebounds, and we fed off of that,” Susi said.
Theriault finished with 11 points.
“For most of the girls who are starting and most of the girls who are on the team, this is their third trip (to the tournament),” Susi said, “and I don’t think they wanted to be denied.”
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