Girls’ basketball: Kristina Blais lifts Lewiston past Bangor

AUGUSTA – At the beginning of the season, Kristina Blais vowed that she wasn’t finishing her high school career without a playoff appearance.

She helped make sure that guarantee materialized, and Wednesday, the Lewiston senior had the chance to deliver the Blue Devils one step further.

Lewiston’s rally rested in the hands of Blais at the free throw line. She had been fouled with six seconds left and the score tied.

“I just told myself, ‘You can do this, you can do this, you can do this,’” Blais said.

She missed the first attempt, watching it swirl around the rim before bouncing out. With one last chance to give Lewiston the lead, Blais delivered.

“I just kept telling myself that, ‘You can do this,’” she said. “’It’s just like in practice. I knew I had to make it.”

Blais sank the clutch free throw and Bangor’s last-second shot glanced off the glass and off the rim as Lewiston stunned Bangor 38-37 in a Class AA North quarterfinal.

“It’s surreal,” Blais said. “I’m extremely proud of my team. We just never gave up. We never do. We never will.”

Lewiston advances to Tuesday’s semifinal to play Edward Little. It is the first tourney win for the Blue Devils since 2005.

“They played their hearts out tonight,” Lewiston coach Lynn Girouard said. “They did not fold. They gave me everything they had in the tank.”

Lewiston was down by seven at the end of the third quarter. The Blue Devils kept battling and switched up defenses to change the momentum. Lewiston used a 7-0 run to tie the game with 3:07 left. Then, a free throw by Victoria Harris put Lewiston up 37-36 with 1:22 remaining. Bangor tied it with 52 seconds left on a Katie Butler free throw. Lewiston turned the ball over in the final minute, giving Bangor the chance to win on the last shot. The Rams called a late timeout but on the inbounds play, the ball sailed over Butler’s head and Blais made the steal.

“If we had executed the inbounds play, it might have been different,” Bangor coach Joe Johnson said. “We just didn’t execute.”

Blais sank the free throw to give Lewiston the lead. Bangor had one last chance. Emily Gilmore took the ball toward space in the middle and fired up a shot, but it didn’t fall.

“Emily had a decent look that almost went in,” Johnson said. “That was the last play of the game. Their last play, they hit the foul shots.”

Lewiston got nine points each from Skylar Gaudette and Harris. Blais finished with eight, including four in the final quarter. Bangor was led by Butler with 12 and Quinn Wood with 10.

“We just wanted to get here and play on this floor,” Girouard said. “We did that, and to get a win is just a bonus.”

After a 22-21 lead at the half, Bangor opened up the lead in the third quarter. Lewiston took a 25-24 lead on a pair of Harris baskets but Bangor ran off six straight, all from Butler.

“I thought we started playing a little bit more confidently,” Johnson said. “We were getting the jitters out of the way. I thought we’d go on a roll there, but they switched the defense and forced us to get back in the flow of the game there.”

Instead of the zone to defend against Bangor’s size inside, Lewiston went with a man-to-man and tried to pressure the guards. With Alasia Branche fouled out, Kasey Talarico came off the bench and gave the Blue Devils some aggressive defensive play.”

“Kasey Talarico put a lot of pressure on their point guard up front,” Girouard said. “I thought she was somewhat of a difference tonight.”

Two free throws by Morgan Eliasen, who finished with four points, got Lewiston within five to start the fourth, but a drive by Sarah Bragg made it 36-29. Lewiston got a post basket by Harris and then Blais hit a 3. Talarico finished off a nice Harris pass and the game was 36-36 with 3:07 left.

“It was one of those things where we’ve got to keep digging and keep hoping for our shots to fall,” Blais said.

Bangor had beaten Lewiston 52-34 in Bangor to end the regular season. Lewiston won the first meeting back in December. The Rams seemingly had the advantage, having been at Augusta last year and losing in the regional final to Lawrence.

Bangor opened the early lead but Lewiston tied it with a 3 from Gaudette. The Rams got baskets by Jenna Bishop and Wood to make it 13-9 after one. The Rams opened up a 21-15 lead in the second quarter after a three-point play by Butler and a 3 from Wood. Gaudette answered with a 3 and a jumper. Her free throw tied it with 1:39 left at 21-21. A Wood free throw gave the Rams the 22-21 lead at the half.

“We just said that we had nothing to lose and everything to gain,” Blais said. “The pressure was on them and not on us.”

Lewiston’s last playoff game was in 2014, a late loss to Mt. Blue in a prelim. Prior to that Lewiston lost a quarterfinal in Bangor in 2006 and lost in the Western A final in 2005 in Portland.

“I just told them that they’ve got to keep fighting,” Girouard said. “We kept fighting and we had to want it. They wanted it tonight. I was proud of them.”

kmills@sunjournal.com

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