Hall-Dale girls basketball coach Brandon Terrill knows his recent tournament history as his top-ranked Bulldogs get ready to face No. 7 Waynflete for the Western C title.
“Each of the last two years, I think there’s been a six seed in the state game,” Terrill said. “Washington Academy last year and Calais two years ago were six seeds, but not a seven seed.
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“So hopefully,” Terrill added with a smile, “we can keep it that way.”
The game between Hall-Dale (17-3) and Waynflete (14-7) will be at 7:05 tonight at the Augusta Civic Center, and it will match probably the two best players in the tournament: Hall-Dale’s Carylanne Wolfington, a 5-foot-7 senior guard/forward, and Waynflete’s Martha Veroneau, a 5-7 junior guard.
Veroneau scored 20 points against Madison in the quarterfinals, then hit for 47 points and nine 3-pointers (both tournament records) against Boothbay in the semifinals.
“She’s very impressive — there’s no doubt about it,” Terrill said. “She’s the whole package. She can handle the ball. She can shoot the three. She can take you off the dribble. It’s going to be a big challenge. But we’ve got some pretty good defenders, too.”
Veroneau has 11 3-pointers in the tournament (another record), but her teammates have hit eight. Players like Rhiannan Jackson and Leigh Fernandez are also threats from outside, and Waynflete’s 19 threes in the tournament is a record for any class in Western Maine.
“All five players on the floor, it seems like, can shoot from the outside, so you can’t over-help on anybody,” Terrill said. “They can all hurt you, so we’re going to have to play a good game of team defense, and be strong and physical.”
On the flip side, Waynflete coach Brandon Salway is naturally concerned about Wolfington, who finished with 21 points and eight rebounds in each of Hall-Dale’s two tournament games so far.
“Wolfington is really tough on the boards, so we’re going to have to find her, and put a body on her to check her out on misses,” Salway said. “She just attacks the basketball.”
Hall-Dale has also supported its star, as Kristina Buck scored 15 points against St. Dominic, and the Bulldogs might not have gotten past Traip on Thursday without Wendy Goldman’s 11 points.
“They’ve got a good team,” Salway said. “(Wolfington) is a great player, but it looks to me like they have a good team, solid players at every position and tough to defend.
“They play tough defense,” Salway added. “They look like a No. 1 seed to me. Traip is a really good team, and they beat Traip, so nothing but respect for them. All year, people that I’ve talked to have said that Hall-Dale’s a deserving No. 1, and that’s the way it looked to me. So we’ve got our hands full with them.”
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
mdifilippo@centralmaine.com
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