AUGUSTA — When Monmouth Academy made a late surge to end the first half Tuesday, the Mustangs rode that excitement into the break.
When Monmouth made another run at Dirigo in the third quarter, the Cougars turned that into the spark they needed.
After the Mustangs tied the game late in the third, Dirigo responded convincingly and never looked back in a 48-33 win in a Western C quarterfinal.
“We said that good teams are going to make good runs,” Dirigo coach Karen Magnusson said. “That’s why all these teams are in the tournament. I said that great teams are the ones that are tougher mentally and respond back to it. That’s exactly what we did. We got to what we needed to do. We rebounded the ball, got defensive stops and we pushed the ball.”
Dirigo took advantage of its size and amped up the defense in a strong fourth quarter. The Cougars finished the third with an 8-2 run and then outscored Monmouth 13-4 in the fourth.
“We just had to keep our composure,” senior forward Jessica Conant said. “We just felt like we needed to step it up. We knew we were supposed to win this game. We just had to bring our energy up so we could bring it home.”
Conant finished with 16 points while Kelsey Hutchins had 11. The two combined for 16 of Dirigo’s last 21 points.
“We love it when we work together,” Conant said.
Sabrina Daoud added 10 for the Cougars, eight of which came in the first half. Lauren Henderson added eight.
Dirigo (17-2) advances to the semifinals Thursday for the second straight year.
Monmouth (14-6) got 15 from Sidney Wilson, including seven in the second quarter that sparked a Mustang rally.
“They’re upset that they lost and they’re upset that the season is over, but I think they gave it all they had,” Monmouth coach Scott Wing said. “No regrets.”
It was a Wilson 3 at the buzzer that ignited the Mustangs and got them within 22-17 at the half. That was after being down by as many as 14 in the second quarter.
Dirigo was able to build the lead back up to 26-19 on a Conant basket but Monmouth produced an 8-1 run. Maddie Amero had a three-point play and a drive by Tia Day tied it 27-27 with 2:49 left in the third.
“I’m so proud of the kids,” Wing said. “When we got down early in the game, we could have quit. I think some of it was kids feeling out those nerves. We hit a few shots and that loosened thing up. They were pretty darn excited at halftime.”
After Monmouth tied the game, Dirigo finished the quarter with an 8-2 spurt for a 35-29 lead. Conant and Hutchins combined for all eight points as the Cougars took advantage of its post play advantage.
Then Henderson hit a 3 to open the fourth. Conant scored on a rebound. Daoud finished off a steal and Hutchins scored to make it 44-29.
Monmouth shot just 2-for-13 in the fourth and didn’t net a field goal until a Haley West basket with 4:47 left. Hutchins answered that. Monmouth got one more basket from Wilson with 3:38 remaining but the Cougars finished it off with two Conant free throws.
“We got a lot of stops, more in the fourth than in the third,” Magnusson said. “The third was probably their best quarter. That fourth quarter, we only allowed four points and allowed us to gain some distance.”
The Cougars inside game proved too tough for Monmouth to match on the boards. When Dirigo got its running game going, the Cougars were settling into their style of play.
“The first half, we didn’t run so much and running is our game,” Conant said. “So we knew we had to do that.”
Dirigo opened an 11-7 lead in the first, finishing the quarter with a 6-0 run. Hutchins, Makenzie Lord and and Daoud scored during that run. Then the Cougars opened the fourth with 10 straight. Henderson and Hutchins each had four while Monmouth went over seven minutes without a field goal.
Dirigo was up by as many as 21-7 before Monmouth closed the gap and got within 22-17 on Wilson’s 3 at the buzzer.
“It was trying to get it all in the same moment,” Magnusson said. “Sabrina had just a great first half. She led us offensively. We were getting great looks but our whole team wasn’t clicking all at the same time. There were different moments especially in the fourth where different people were clicking, and we showed some good balance in our scoring.”
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