Class B South girls’ semifinal: Gray-New Gloucester rises above Lake Region in OT

In a game that teetered from tip to final buzzer, the second-seeded Patriots (16-4) held a slim lead to begin the fourth, then expanded it as the period wore on.

But the third-ranked Lakers (15-5) started chipping away.

A 3-pointer from Chandler True cut the deficit to two, and a Lauren Jakobs put-back tied it with less than a minute to play.

The Patriots turned the ball over with 40 seconds left, giving Lake Region a chance at the last shot.

“This was our first time in a semifinal game, and having to produce late in the game,” Gray-NG coach Mike Andreasen said. “There were some jitters.”

The Lakers’ Kristen Huntress drove the lane in the waning seconds of regulation, but her shot fell short.

Lake Region coach Paul True said the final play of regulation, “couldn’t have been better, other than getting to the free-throw line.”

Andreasen said he was glad there was no foul called on the play, and that the officials “let the kids win the game.”

With a second life, the Patriots seized the opportunity, and seized control of the contest. Center Alanna Camerl made a layup off the opening tip, and after a missed layup by Lake Region, Alicia Dumont drained a 3 to give the Patriots a 47-42 lead.

They never looked back.

True said Camerl’s opening layup was the difference, givng the Patriots the slim margin for error, and that Dumont’s 3 was “the biggest shot of the game.”

“We all know we have to step up in certain spots,” Dumont said. “Since they doubled down on Skye (Conley) we knew that we had to hit shots when we were open.”

Conley scored a game-high 18 points in the team’s quarterfinal win, but was held in check in Thursday’s semifinal, finishing with three points before fouling out in overtime.

Gray-NG as a team was held in check at the start of the game, with the Lakers jumping out to a 9-2 lead. Andreasen called a timeout, and told his players they had to make plays.

Dumont did that, hitting a pair of 3s and scoring eight points in the first quarter to help the Patriots rally and take a 16-4 lead.

The Gray-NG junior guard did that coming off the bench, where she has started games since coming back from a torn meniscus. She said she’s embraced her role as the team’s sixth man.

Lake Region went back ahead in the second quarter, outscoring the Patriots by four to take a two-point lead into halftime. Andreasen switched to a man-to-man defense, and Dumont said the team started to get up into the Lakers’ shooters. That added up to just five Lake Region points in the third, and a two-point lead for Gray-NG heading into the fourth.

“I think our half-court defense the second half was much better,” Andreasen said.

It was the Patriots’ offense that failed them in the fourth, committing turnovers in critical moments. That led to some tense moments for Andreasen on the sideline.

“This is the semifinals, and nothing’s comfortable,” Andreasen said. “There’s one guy in Maine I don’t want to coach against, it’s Paul True, because he’s been there before.”

True and his team nearly pulled it off, but Andreasen’s team held on.

“I feel good for my kids, because my kids have worked hard,” Andreasen said. “They haven’t had a lot of the limelight, so to speak. We’re very workman-like, we’re very lunch pail. We don’t have a 22-point-a-game scorer.”

Dumont scored a game-high 18 points, while Camerl added 14. Huntress and True led Lake Region with 14 apiece.

wkramlich@sunjournal.com