Girls Basketball: G-NG Patriots trump Lakers, Eagles, head to States

Gray-New Gloucester seesawed into overtime with Lake Region on Thursday afternoon, Feb. 18, but big performances from Alicia Dumont and Alanna Camerl ultimately gave the Patriots a 53-47 W and the chance to match up against Lincoln in Saturday’s Regional Final. There, the Patriots again prevailed – and much more decisively. Grace Kariotis tallied 13 in the bout as G-NG charged to a 45-30 victory, the B South title, and a States berth.

G-NG vs. Lake Region

Camerl pounced on the first OT points – a power two, underneath – in G-NG’s back-and-forth battle vs. Lake Region, and fellow Patriot Alicia Dumont followed her up with a crowdpleasing three to really grab the game by the jugular. From there, G-NG bled the time away, keeping ahead of the Lakers till the buzzer. 53-47 in the end.

“I feel good for my kids, because they’ve worked hard,” G-NG head coach Mike Andreasen said. “They haven’t had a lot of the limelight. We’re very lunch-pail; our lead scorer averages 11 points a game. And they don’t care who gets the credit. Today it was Alicia.”

The Patriots, who entered the postseason 14-4 and ranked 2nd in B South, advanced to 16-4 with the semifinals victory. G-NG handily bounced No. 7 Freeport (56-30) from contention in the quarters.

Three-seed Lake Region likewise entered the bracketing at 14-4. The Lakers offed No. 6 Yarmouth 32-31 in the quarters, and thus retire for the year at 15-5.

Both teams took to the court looking contemplative on the attack, or maybe tense. They traded steals for the opening minutes, until Kariotis put her team up from the line.

The Lakers quickly answered, Chandler True turning a three-point play, then surged ahead, Spencer True nailing a pair of threes to put her squad up 9-2. In a low-scoring game, a seven point differential might prove critical, and Andreasen called timeout.

The Patriots emerged from the huddle and Dumont immediately drained a three, juicing her squad: She, Camerl and Izzy DeTroy all hashed more points in the remaining minutes of the first. By the start of the second, G-NG had usurped control 16-14.

Andreasen praised Dumont.

“Alicia came off the bench,” he said, “and made nine or 11 points in the first quarter, when Lake Region was threatening to run away with the game.”

Lake Region did take charge again early in the second. Kristen Huntress added two from the line and Chandler True knocked down another three. The lead swung like that, over and over, for the rest of the game. Just prior to the half, Camerl grabbed an o-reb and two, but LRHS still went to the locker room on top, 26-24.

The scoreboard bounced to 31-all, early in the third. A stalemate then choked off the buckets; it dragged on for several minutes, only breaking open in the waning seconds of the quarter, when DeTroy sank a two.

Dumont added a pair of frees to begin the fourth. Soon, two consecutive Camerl notches from underneath pushed G-NG ahead 39-33, and the contest looked like it might be decided. The Lakers fought back, though: Huntress, Chandler True and Lauren Jakobs all tallied points on the way to 42-42 and overtime.

“Our half-court defense in the second half was much better,” said Andreasen. “We went to a straight man-to-man, out of our zone. Lake Region was torching our zone.”

The first moments of OT didn’t decide the bout, but Camerl’s deuce and Dumont’s trio of points certainly accelerated the Patriots toward the win. The Lakers just didn’t have one more comeback in them, and eventually succumbed 53-47.

Andreasen applauded several of his girls.

“Alanna and Skye (Conley), our two big post players, did a good job defending,” he said. “[And Izzy] just makes us go…She’s always halfway to a triple-double, a quadruple-double.”

Dumont led the scoring with 18; Camerl wasn’t far behind her, with 14. DeTroy finished with nine, Jordan and Kariotis with four apiece. Conley had three and Jordan one.

Huntress and Chandler True led the Lakers’ attack, tallying 14 each. Jakobs added eight, Spencer True six, Harriman three and Millett two.

G-NG vs. Lincoln

The Patriots controlled this one from the outset: Between Conley, Camerl and DeTroy, they built a 10-0 lead to begin the game, then maintained for the rest of the contest. 45-30 the final.

Lincoln didn’t even break double digits till midway through the second, by which time the Patriots had already hit 20. Eagles Gaby Wajer and Alyx York did knock a few points off their team’s deficit as the quarter wound down, but still they trailed 24-16 at the half.

Andreasen discussed his team’s defense on Wajer, the Eagles’ top threat: “She beat us on the outside. We wanted to stop her penetration, but allow her the outside, and she got us there. Luckily, the other kids didn’t kill us. We were able to close out the other three-point shooters. One kid can’t beat you.”

Defense dominated the third quarter: It took two minutes for the first basket to fall – an Eagles two by Avae Traina – and two and a half more minutes for the Patriots to speak up. When they did, though, they did it loudly: Kariotis completed a three-point play, then drained two more frees for 29-18.

The fourth saw a flurry of points. Kariotis kept finding herself at the line – with time evaporating, Lincoln had no choice but to start fouling – where she proved pretty consistent. Couple that with baskets by Conley and DeTroy, and G-NG took the win with comparative ease.

Kariotis led the Patriots’ scoring with 13; Conley added 10, Dumont eight, DeTroy and Camerl six each.

From Andreasen’s perspective, G-NG’s greatest strength is perhaps their diversity. “We’re just so consistent. Last game it was two kids, game before that it was two other kids. That’s what’s hard to guard about us. You say, ‘OK, let’s take Conley away,’ but there’s still Kariotis. You take her away, but there’s still Dumont. You take her away, there’s still Camerl. We have a lot of parts, and as long as some of them are working well, we’ll be OK.”

G-NG’s next stop is the Class B State Championship vs. North reps Houlton. That game is slated for 7:05 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 26, at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.