Class A South girls’ quarterfinal: Leavitt stings Fryeburg Academy

PORTLAND — Leavitt girls basketball coach Dave Gerrish pulled his team aside between the third and fourth quarters of their Class A South quarterfinal against Fryeburg Academy on Monday, and had a simple message: “We can win this game.”

The Hornets and Raiders were tied after a late-third-quarter Leavitt run erased a seven-point deficit.

And the Hornets just kept on running.

Gerrish’s prediction was on point, with No. 6 Leavitt posting a 46-40 upset win over No. 3 Fryeburg at the Portland Expo.

The Hornets (10-9) had lost twice to the third-ranked Raiders (15-4) during the regular season — a close game at home and a blowout on the road. Leavitt showed flashes of both those previous efforts in the third and final meeting of the season.

The game was tied 9-9 after one quarter, and Fryeburg led 18-16 at halftime. The Raiders opened the second half on an 11-6 run, but things began to turn in the Hornets’ favor.

Senior captain Chantel Eells made her first basket of the game with 1:45 to go in the third, then her second the next time down. It was double the output that Leavitt’s lone senior produced in the first half.

“I wasn’t really focusing on scoring,” Eells said. “I knew I could do other things, like all the other little things that impact the game too.”

Those were Eells’ only four points of the third, but she added six rebounds in the frame, and the 5-foot, 10-inch forward also began to carry the ball up the floor for Leavitt.

“That’s one thing that that senior gives you is she’s patient,” Gerrish said of Eells, “and if things aren’t going her way all the time she just keeps playing basketball.”

Sophie Gilbert connected on a layup that bounced around the rim just before the buzzer sounded in the third to tie the game. Gilbert finished with a game-high 19 points.

“Sophie, she finds a way to make herself space under the basket,” Gerrish said.

The Hornets opened the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run, only for the Raiders to score nine of the next 11 points to tie it back up with 1:44 left.

Allie Belaire — playing with four fouls — hit a pair of free throws to put Leavitt back on top. Fryeburg’s Bridget Bailey and Eells traded off making 1-of-2 from the line, then Eells put the game away with two more free throws to make it 44-40 with 14 seconds left.

Eells was then mobbed by her teammates at center court as the clock hit all zeroes.

The Raiders could only watch, their season abruptly over.

“The Fryeburg girls were outcoached today,” Fryeburg coach Sean Watson said. “If you don’t have your kids in a position to be successful, that’s not on the kids.”

Watson said his team had trouble with Leavitt’s back cuts and flashes in the post. Doing much of that work were Gilbert and Eells. On the other end of the court, the Hornets’ defense looked its best in the fourth, getting a boost from the offense’s run, according to Eells, who finished with 12 points.

Julia Quinn led Fryeburg with 13.

“I think we just really wanted to win that basketball game,” Gerrish said. “Our kids made some plays when they had to, and took care of the ball when they needed to. And that was enough for us to win.”

wkramlich@sunjournal.com