AUGUSTA — With her team leading by 22 points late in the fourth quarter, Martha Veroneau tossed up a 3-pointer from at least 23 feet away.
Of course it went in.
That’s the kind of record-setting afternoon Veroneau had to lead the Flyers to a 78-61 win over Boothbay on Thursday in a Western Class C girls’ basketball semifinal.
Veroneau’s long 3-pointer – her ninth of the game – tied the single-game Western Maine tournament record for all classes. Moments later, she made a pair of free throws to break the girls’ single-game scoring record, finishing with 47 points.
After the game, Veroneau just smiled as her teammates screamed while they jumped up and down next to her. That quiet smile belied her pleasure.
“It’s really exciting,” said Veroneau, a 5-foot-7 junior guard. “I don’t tend to show my emotions too much. But it was really exciting. I didn’t realize it was a new record until after the game, when coach told me.”
Waynflete had plenty to be happy about. The seventh-seeded Flyers (14-7) move on to Saturday’s regional final against top-seeded Hall-Dale. Waynflete has pulled off a pair of upsets, and its win over third-seeded Boothbay (13-7) was never in doubt after the Flyers took control with a big second quarter.
Veroneau’s night started quietly, as she hit one of her first four 3-point tries. But she got hot late in the second quarter, scoring 13 points in the final three minutes of the first half as Waynflete opened a 32-16 lead.
“My first couple shots weren’t on, but (I’ve) learned just to keep on shooting and they’ll fall eventually,” she said.
So, it’s shoot to get hot, shoot to stay hot?
“That’s the motto of our team, I guess.”
Veroneau drained back-to-back 3-pointers early in the third quarter, then added a couple more. As the final seconds of the quarter ticked away, she fired a shot from three-quarters of the floor away. The crowd gasped as the ball headed toward the basket, then laughed as the ball drilled off the backboard, just to the right of the hoop.
The way her day was going, everybody expected every shot to go in.
Thanks in large part to Veroneau, the Flyers eclipsed the regional team record for 3-pointers, going 12 for 30 from beyond the arc. The previous record for all classes was 11 by Westbrook in 1997.
Veroneau broke her own Class C individual record (seven, in 2011) and now shares the mark for all classes with Westbrook’s Morgan McEwen (1997).
Veroneau’s 47 points are two more than former Boothbay player Katie Sibley, who scored 45 in 2003.
“We had a feeling she would have a pretty good game, but I didn’t dream of anything like this,” said Waynflete Coach Brandon Salway. “Katie was a very special player, so for Martha to break her record, that’s pretty special.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
