Class A North girls’ basketball: Gardiner fends off Mt. Blue

AUGUSTA — It took just two Leslie Stevens shots to change the game in Gardiner’s favor Friday.

The sophomore guard hit a pair of jumpers early in the fourth quarter, pushing the Tigers’ one-point lead into a sizable six-point advantage and forcing Mt. Blue to play catch-up the rest of the way.

The Cougars struggled to match the offensive surge, and Gardiner built the lead into double-digits before finishing off the Cougars, 43-35, in a Class A North quarterfinal.

“I knew that we needed to get some momentum after having kind of a lackadaisical three quarters,” Stevens said. “I came out there and said, ‘This is it. This is the last quarter, and I’ve got to end it all.”

Stevens hit a short jumper to start the quarter and then drilled a 3. The surge turned a 24-23 lead entering the fourth into a 29-23 advantage.

“Leslie shot the first one with her foot on the line, and the next one in the corner, that was a huge turnaround,” Gardiner Mike Gray said.

Mt. Blue got within four on two free throw by Mackenzie Harris, but Gardiner followed that with another six straight and the Cougars couldn’t answer.

“We’ve been so inconsistent offensively throughout the year that if we get down six or eight points, it’s a struggle for us to make that up,” Mt. Blue coach Gavin Kane said. “Gardiner had a great run there late. That distanced themselves enough to be able to take care of things from their end.

“The kids played hard. Our inability to score the basketball, they’ve been competitive with everybody else, but we’ve had such a difficult time scoring consistently on the offensive end.”

Lauren Chadwick finished with 13 points for Gardiner (15-4), while Stevens finished with 11, including seven in the fourth. Leah Weymouth added eight. Mt. Blue (9-10) got 12 from Caitlin Kane and 10 from Harris. Eryn Doiron added eight.

“The effort for our kids has been consistent all year,” Kane said. “They left it on the floor. They’ve always given a good effort and they did it again today. We just weren’t able to execute and knock down some shots.”

Both teams struggled from the floor in the third quarter. Mt. Blue shot 1-for-10 while Gardiner missed its first five shots and finished 2-for-8. Tied 20-20 at the half, the Cougars opened the third with a free throw from Kane and a rebound basket by Harris to lead, 23-20.

“We had a quick three (points) and we had about five stops defensively,” Kane said. “If we could have cashed in offensively … We talked about it during a timeout, we wanted to see how they reacted from playing behind, but we couldn’t put a run together there.”

Instead, Gardiner finished with four straight to take a 24-23 lead into the fourth. Chadwick converted a steal and Mary Toman scored on the fast break. Toman finished with 16 rebounds as the Tigers dominated the boards.

“Both teams played really good defense,” Stevens of the third quarter. “Our defense was good but the offense, not so much, but we made up for it in the fourth quarter.”

After Stevens hit the early shots in the fourth, Gardiner got four points each from Chadwick and Logan Granholm. Gardiner hit five of its first eight shots. The lead was quickly up to double digits, but Kane gave the Cougars late hope. She drilled a pair of 3s that got Mt. Blue as close as 41-35 in the final minute.

“We knew everything was going to go through her,” Gray said. “She hit those 3s to give them more of a chance. It made it a little scarier than it needed to be but I thought the girls responded well.”

Gardiner jumped out to a quick 12-5 lead in the first quarter. Mt. Blue shot 1-for-8 while Chadwick, Weymouth and Stevens all hit 3’s. Weymouth also did a great defensive job on Kane in the early going.

“I thought Weymouth did an outstanding job on Kane until she got her fourth foul,” Gray said. “She did an outstanding job on both ends. We don’t count on her for a lot of offense, but she hit a couple of 3’s that helped us get things going.”

Mt. Blue battled back and had the game tied 20-20 at the half. Gardiner shot 3-for-13 and the Cougars got an 11-5 run. Doiron scored on a fast break and Kane hit two free throws to make it 15-13. After a 3 from Weymouth, Doiron hit two free throws and Kane drilled a 3 to tie it 18-18. Gardiner got a Granholm rebound but Harris scored to tie it at the half.

“We’d given up 10 offensive rebounds,” Kane said. “Our Achilles heel has been inconsistent shooting on the offensive end, and we haven’t been a very good rebounding team. We gave up 10 offensive rebounds. I told the girls at halftime that we didn’t play that well but we played hard. We didn’t play that well, but we were tied at halftime.”

kmills@sunjournal.com