Biddeford Rallies to Win in OT
The Tigers erase a 12-point deficit
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Ever since the State Championship game, the Biddeford girls have been living on the edge. You all remember what happened back in March. Now, thanks to reclassification, they find themselves in a brutal region where every heal point will be important. On Opening Night, they lost a squeaker to Sanford. So when they found themselves down 12 in the third quarter to Thornton Academy, the Biddeford faithful must have been getting antsy.
But they found their footing and battled all the way back. Natalia Silva was fouled down three with 0.7 seconds left, stepped to the line, and nailed all three free throws to send the game to overtime. Her sister Gabby then hit the game-winner in OT and Biddeford completed the comeback. The Silva twins combined for 29 points.
Drew Bonifant was there.
Drew BonifantStaff Writer
I had to do some Christmas shopping in Augusta (I spent 20 minutes Christmas shopping), so I used that as an excuse to check out some of the East/West Playday games at the Augusta Civic Center. It's a nice event they've been doing for the last couple of years where some of the smaller teams in the state get an opportunity to play a countable game on the big tournament floor. It continues all day today.
I got there for the end of the Rangeley/Vinalhaven boys game, which Vinalhaven won by 20 in a game that was much closer than that. Vinalhaven seems stronger this year than they have recently, based on the few minutes I saw. Javin Poole led the way with 22.
Up next was the Valley and Buckfield girls. The Valley girls, by all accounts, are one of the most dominant teams in the state for their class and it didn't take long to see why.
Sophomore Liana Hartwell was far and away the best player on the floor on both ends. She had 29, but the intangibles really stood out. She had her head on a swivel looking for teammates and was a vocal leader on defense. She has a surprising grasp of the fundamentals for her age.
It was a really impressive performance.
It's hard to think of a team in the state where she wouldn't at least be in the rotation.
If you've heard anything about the Valley boys team, you know the names Harry Louis and Fisher Tewksbury. The Senior duo each reached 1,000 points as sophomores and haven't slowed down.
Buckfield raced out to an early lead, thanks to Trenton Haskell's hot shooting from deep (and I mean DEEP). Then Valley got going. Their swarming defense started forcing turnovers and then it was off to the races.
They closed the first quarter on a 22-0 run.
The Valley experience is a lot of fun to watch. It's a suffocating defense that pushes the ball on offense at every opportunity, not just after a turnover but after an opponent's make, even after an opponent's made free throw. It's a real "4 seconds or less" ethos. I strongly recommend checking it out.
Harry Louis finished with 27.
Or, you could watch their doubleheader against Dirigo on December 19th, because I will be joining Eastern Maine Sports' broadcast of the games.
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Elsewhere
Kylie Lamson dropped 26 on Portland...Akol Maiwen went off for 30 as Edward Little used a strong 4th quarter to pull away from Mt. Blue...Brandon Levesque had 17 as Gorham beat Massabesic...Grayson Bernard's 19 wasn't enough for Lewiston to beat Oxford Hills...Madison Milligan's 13 led Gorham against Massabesic...Stella Peterson's 18 & 7 paced Mt. Abram by Monmouth...Laura Whiteside had 20 points, which was 31% of the points in the game, in Noble's win over Falmouth...Eva Alvarez had 20 as Scarborough got their first win of the year...Annie Whitmore's 19 led SoPo past Portland...Megyn Mertens had 24/15/5 in Wells' win over Hall-Dale...Lyla Dunphe's 16 led Westbrook over Deering...Windham's Mackenzie Delewski went for 28 and outscored Marshwood all by herself...The York girls pitched a first half shutout against Yarmouth...The Pine Tree boys went off for a 33-5 first quarter against Greenville...Darius Johnson had a massive 27 & 14 in SoPo's win over Portland...Dominic Hussey's 17 fueled TA as they doubled up Biddeford...Colin Janvrin had 20 and Tyrie James added 16 in Windham's win over Marshwood...Reece MacDonald had 21 as York held off Yarmouth.
Much like yesterday, we're going to pivot on the Game of the Day.
The Stax Index likes the GNG/Medomak girls and while I could make an argument for it, the fact is Medomak lost a lot in Kytana Williamson and I'm not confident the Model has caught up yet. I'm planning on being there to see for myself.
Maranacook is 3-0 thanks to a steal in the final seconds against Mt. View. They'll face a Mount Abram team that beat Spruce Mountain and got blown out by Monmouth. So...yeah. I might go to this one too.
The Model's picks for the rest of today's games are after the jump.