AUBURN — It came down to this for the St. Dom’s and Wiscasset girls’ basketball teams. Win Thursday’s Mountain Valley Conference game and a Western Class C preliminary game might be in the future.
The Saints completed the job at hand, downing the Wolverines, 43-38, to improve to 5-10 and strengthen their hold on the 13th and final spot in Western C.
Wiscasset fell to 4-12 and saw its last realistic chance of making a run come to an end after being outscored 11-6 in the fourth quarter.
Faith Grady, the leading scorer in the MVC, had a triple-double with 22 points, 11 rebounds and 11 steals for St. Dom’s.
“I am a math teacher, and I have been watching the Heals pretty closely, and there is one spot left, with us being the only two teams that can claim it,” said St. Dom’s coach Jon Berry. “I told the girls beforehand that (Wiscasset was) going to come out hard.”
Berry was right, as the Wolverines struck for the game’s first seven points, but seven turnovers hurt Wiscasset as St. Dom’s battled back from the slow start.
Grady was able to get her team going, scoring five first-quarter points. Chloe Dwinell hit a 3-pointer to give the Saints a 11-10 lead after a quarter.
The teams traded the lead four times in the second stanza.
With 2:16 remaining until halftime, Dwinell tumbled to the court with a lower body injury and didn’t return. Wiscasset was able to carry a 24-22 lead into the intermission despite making just 11 of 28 shots.
“Our energy was good and attitude was good, and you could tell that the girls were ready to compete, but we turned the ball over too many times in the first half. When Chloe got hurt, it was a chance to push the lead out and we didn’t take advantage,” said Wiscasset coach Patrick Quinn.
Four times the teams were deadlocked in the third quarter, with the contest entering the fourth tied at 32. Abbie Veinote was a catalyst for the Saints, nailing an open trey and going hard inside for a traditional 3-point play in the third. The sophomore finished with 12 big points.
“I was doing what I can for my team,” said Veinote. “This is a big win for this team, and now we get to play a prelim.”
“We had Allie scouted, knowing that she is a 3-point shooter, so we clogged the lane on Faith,” said Quinn. “I thought we did a good job on Faith in the midcourt, but she killed us on transition. Allie made some good shots.”
“First game back she hit four 3s against Dirigo, second game back two 3s against Mt. Abram. She lights it up in practice. She makes us a complete team. We expect it from her now,” said Berry.
Veinote swished her third 3-pointer with 4:54 left in regulation for a 35-32 Saints lead, and Grady hit a pair of free throws, followed moments later by a steal and an uncontested layup for a 39-32 Saints lead.
Kayla Gordon’s bucket brought the Wolverines to 41-38 with 52 ticks left. But Grady made two more at the charity stripe to close out the win.
“The ebb and flow between the teams was good, with good basketball and good sportsmanship,” said Quinn, whose Wolverines visit Madison on Tuesday and Monmouth Feb. 5 to close out the season.
Gordon led Wiscasset with nine points, six rebounds and three steals.
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