Gray-New Gloucester’s Jordan Grant, center, drives to the basket past Lake Region’s Shauna Hancock, left and Lauren Jakobs, right, during the first half of Tuesday’s game. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)
GRAY — The Gray-New Gloucester girls’ basketball team lost control of the game but managed to hold on to win it, beating Lake Region 42-41 on Tuesday night.
“We have to take the rough road, I guess,” Patriots coach Mike Andreasen said.
The Patriots build a nice 18-7 lead after one quarter thanks to 16 points from sophomore Jordan Grant.
“I think we did a lot of transition in the beginning, and I just run the court a lot, and Bri (Jordan) usually looks for me over the top. So that’s a good way to get some (points) up there,” Grant said. “And I had a lot of open looks.”
But the Lakers slowed down Grant and the Gray-NG offense by switching to man-to-man defense in the second quarter, and on offense freshman guard Shauna Hancock and Chandler True led a an 18-0 run that spanned the second and third periods and flipped a 25-12 deficit into a 30-25 lead midway through the third.
“We came out (in the first quarter) and played some zone, which is not typical of us,” Lake Region coach Paul True said, “and I thought it led to some complacency and standing around, and we just made a decision that we got to get out and guard people and play the way we normally play.”
Samantha Fortin ended Gray-NG’s drought with a jumper that cut the deficit to 30-27.
The Patriots finished the quarter on an 8-1 run punctuated by junior Bri Jordan’s off-balance 3-pointer that beat the buzzer and sent game into the fourth with Gray-NG leading 33-31.
The Patriots never trailed in the final period, but the Lakers never gave up.
Jordan scored inside to give Gray-NG a four-point cushion at 39-35, and then, with less than two minutes to play, Grant scored to make it 41-35.
Though Jordan is only a junior and Grant is just a sophomore, the pair are Gray-NG’s veteran players, and they made plays down the stretch for the Patriots.
“Coach expects a lot from us, and he always says that we don’t really have a leader on the team, and so Jordy or I, or really anyone stepping up is really important,” Jordan said. “Like, I think Jordy, with that hoop, that was a big play for her.”
Hancock drilled a 3 to slice Gray-NG’s lead in half. Grant made one of two free throws with 43 seconds left to make it 42-38.
After the teams traded turnovers and Lake Region forced a jump ball, Chandler True hit a 3 with 13 seconds left.
Jordan missed the front end of a one-and-one, and True dashed down the court and drew contact on a 3-point try, but the officials ruled the shot came after the buzzer.
Andreasen said the Patriots made too many miscues down the stretch while they should have been sealing the victory.
“I do think the buzzer went, I thought the buzzer was before,” Andreasen said. “But still, that’s leaving it up to chance.
Andreasen added: “We’re new, there’s no seniors. The underclassmen got to grow up early here for us to have any chance.”
Grant finished with a game-high 21 points, and Jordan added 12 for Gray-NG (8-2), which remains at the top of the Class B South Heal point standings.
“We just got to keep getting better,” Jordan said. “Obviously, it was a close game, but it shows what our program’s about and what we can do.”
Hancock led Lake Region (8-3) with 15 points, while True added 12.
Paul True was proud that the Lakers, who defeated the Patriots in the season opener, never stopped competing.
“I’m 100 percent proud of our kids and how hard we worked,” he said, “and obviously a lot of things did not go our way.”
Gray-New Gloucester’s Alexa Thayer, right, passes the ball to a teammate as she hits the floor after battling for a loose ball with Lake Region’s Lauren Jakobs during Tuesday’s game. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)
Gray-New Gloucester’s Alexa Thayer left and Lake Region’s Bella Russo wrestle for a loose ball during Tuesday’s game. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)
Gray-New Gloucester’s Brianna Jordan muscles her way past Lake Region’s Chandler True, left, and Shauna Hancock, right, as she heads to the basket for a layup during the first half of Tuesday’s game. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)
Gray-New Gloucester’s Jordan Grant goes up for a layup past a pair of Lake Region players during Tuesday night’s game in New Gloucester. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)
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