Penobscot Valley girls upset Dexter for C North title

BANGOR — Dexter beat Penobscot Valley twice during the regular season, but even though the Tigers led by eight at halftime of Saturday night, Feb. 23’s Class C North girls basketball championship game, the Howlers were confident that they could come out on top.

In the locker room, head coach Nathaniel Case reminded his team that in the matchup played at Howland, his team had shown tremendous resilience.

Bangor Daily News photo/Pete Warner
DEXTER IN C NORTH CHAMPIONSHIP — Peyton Grant of Dexter dribbles past Judy King of Penobscot Valley with help from a screen by Kaylee Deering during Saturday’s Class C North title game in Bangor. The Tigers would fall by a score of 24-20.

“Our example was, we were down 14 and came back and had a two-point lead [in that game]. Why can’t we do it again?”

Fourth-seeded Penobscot Valley of Howland took it to heart, outscoring No. 2 Dexter 18-6 in the second half to eke out a 24-20 victory in the Class C North girls basketball championship game at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.

“The girls have worked so hard proving everyone wrong all year,” said Case, whose team won the program’s first regional title since 1986, when it finished as the state runner-up.

PVHS (18-4) advances to play South winner Boothbay Region (21-0), a 49-31 winner over North Yarmouth Academy, in next Saturday’s 7:05 p.m. state title game in Bangor.

Dexter, making its third consecutive regional final appearance, finished at 17-4.

“I can’t wait to practice. We still get to practice,” Case said of the coming week. “I can’t wait to see Boothbay in Bangor knowing the fans are going to fill this gym from Howland.”

Bangor Daily News photo/Pete Warner
THIRD TIME WAS THE CHARM — Kaylee Deering of Dexter maneuvers around Laney Harding of Penobscot Valley during the Feb. 23 Class C North girls title game in Bangor. Penobscot Valley won 24-20, after the Tigers won both regular season matchups. The Howlers will face Boothbay for the Gold Ball on Saturday.

The catalyst for the Howlers was Lexi Ireland. The junior post player scored 11 of her game-high 15 points in the second half. That effort included a 5-for-7 effort from the foul line in the fourth quarter.

“We battled back,” Ireland said. “We had a good talk at halftime and we just knew we could do this.”

The Howlers successfully limited Dexter’s top two scoring threats, Peyton Grant and Avery Herrick. PVHS played a triangle-and-two alignment in the first half with senior Judy King guarding Grant and junior Leine McKechnie responsible for shadowing Herrick.

Grant found enough room to score eight points to help the defensive-minded Tigers build a 14-6 lead. Dexter’s player-to-player defense held PVHS to 2-for-11 shooting and forced some of the Howlers’ seven turnovers.

However, Dexter’s efforts were hampered by its inability to take care of the ball. The Tigers committed an uncharacteristic 20 turnovers overall, which proved their undoing.

“That killed us, it really did,” said Dexter coach Jody Grant.

“Your margin of error becomes very miniscule when you turn the ball over that many times.”

Dexter had difficulty finding any offensive continuity in the second half after PVHS switched into a 1-3-1 zone. The Howlers’ comfort level playing that defense came from using it against other teams with high-scoring guards.

The tactic helped turn the tables on the Tigers, who managed only 11 field-goal attempts in the second half and made just two.

“We just didn’t do a good job getting organized, getting the ball to the right places at the right times, having good habits,” Jody Grant said. “But some of that was our inability to pass and catch and do what you think would be simple things.”

Dexter made six turnovers in the third quarter as PVHS began to generate some momentum. Ireland sank two free throws, scored from underneath off a pass from Laney Harding, then scored from the lane with a left-handed shot that tied the game 16-all with 42 seconds left in the third quarter.

“We came out in our ‘green’ defense, our 1-3-1, and actually shut them down a little bit, so our defense kept us through this,” Ireland said.

Dexter regained the lead briefly with 6:09 to play on Herrick’s scoop shot, but two Ireland foul shots and Emily St. Cyr’s runner from the lane made it 20-18 Howlers.

The Tigers managed only two free throws the rest of the way, although they had a chance to equalize after Ireland sank two more from the line with 22.2 seconds left. However, Grant’s 3-point attempt from the left wing missed, St. Cyr rebounded and one more Ireland foul shot iced it.

“We weren’t supposed to be this good this year,” Case said, “so I’m just so proud that they bought in to all the expectations I had for them this year. I set a [high] bar and they exceeded it every single time.”

—

The evening before Dexter rallied past Calais to return to the regional final

Herrick knew it was a matter of time before Grant would start knocking down some shots on Friday night.

In the meantime, the relentless sophomore put the Dexter girls basketball team on her back.

Photo courtesy of Tim Goupille
TRYING NOT TO HAND IT TO HER — Avery Herrick of Dexter eyes the basket against Calais’s Olivia Huckins during Friday’s Class C North semifinal played at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. The Tigers won 49-39.

Herrick scored six points and grabbed three rebounds in the third quarter to spearhead a Dexter comeback as the Tigers rallied from a 10-point deficit to register a 49-39 Class C semifinal victory over Calais.

“I knew they were going to guard Peyton heavy, so I had to do what I had to do,” Herrick said.

“I had confidence the whole time. I said, ‘we can do this,’ even though we were down 10 at one time.”

Head coach Grant’s second-seeded Tigers (17-3) advanced to Saturday’s regional championship game against the winner of Friday’s late game between No. 4 Penobscot Valley of Howland and No. 9 Stearns of Millinocket.

Dexter also reached the regional final last year after winning the title in 2017.

The sixth-seeded Blue Devils finish at 19-2.

Herrick performed well at both ends while spearheading Dexter’s comeback. She finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds.

“She made it tough on us. She got to spots we didn’t want her to get to,” said Calais coach Bill McVicar.

Grant finally got back in the offensive groove after shooting 2-for-17 over the first three quarters. The sophomore connected for 16 in the fourth quarter, including going 8-for-8 from the foul line.

“I told her when the fourth quarter started, I said this is the time now, don’t worry about all the shots you’ve missed,” Jody Grant said. “Try to keep going and hit a few coming down the stretch. I was just pleased with her composure.”

Calais raced out of the locker room at halftime and scored seven unanswered points, including five by Lauren Cook, to extend their lead to 24-14 with less than two minutes gone in the third quarter.

That’s when Herrick and senior Kaylee Deering stepped up for the Tigers and helped them slice the deficit to 33-27 with eight minutes remaining.

When Cook opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer at the 6:35 mark, the Blue Devils appeared to be in good shape. However, Dexter scored the next 16 points, including 10 from Grant, to flip the script.

Photo courtesy of Tim Goupille
HEATING UP IN THE FOURTH — Dexter’s Peyton Grant tries to get past her defender, Calais’s Olivia Huckins, during the Class C North semifinal on Feb. 22. The Tiger sophomore scored 16 of her 20 points in the fourth quarter as Dexter won 49-39.

The run included Cheyenne Beem’s baseline layup, a driving basket and a 3-pointer by Grant and Herrick’s close-range hoop. Another 3 and two free throws by Grant and two Deering foul shots gave the Tigers a 43-36 lead with 56.5 seconds remaining.

“I did [have doubts] a little bit when I thought I was getting fouled, but in the end I knew that I just had to keep shooting and something good was going to happen in the end,” Peyton Grant said.

Calais, which went 2-for-15 from the field in the period, ended a nearly six-minute scoring drought on Sophie McVicar’s 3-pointer with 47.8 seconds left, but Grant iced it by making six straight free throws.

“Momentum and energy just kind of shifted on us a bit there,” Bill McVicar said. “We kind of let down there a little bit, but credit Jody. They did a nice job.”

Beem contributed six points and five rebounds and Deering added four points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals for the winners, who went 16-for-18 from the foul line.

Cook paced Calais with 16 points, while Sage Phillips (6 rebounds) and Olivia Huckins posted eight points each. The Blue Devils went 0-for-2 from the foul line.

Girls basketball
Class C North championship
No. 4 Penobscot 24,
No. 2 Dexter 20
Penobscot Valley (18-4): Harding 1-6 0-0 3, St. Cyr 2-4 0-0 4, King 0-1 0-0 0, E. Ireland 0-0 0-0 0, L. Ireland 3-15 9-13 15, McKechnie 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 6-26 11-15 24
Dexter (17-4): Mountain 0-0 0-0 0, Grant 4-13 1-3 11, Cummings 1-2 0-0 2, Herrick 2-5 1-2 5, Deering 0-2 0-0 0, Beem 1-2 0-0 2, Wakefield 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 8-25 2-5 20
PVHS 2-6-16-24
Dexter 7-14-16-20
3-pt. goals, PVHS (1-6): Harding 1-6; Dexter (2-8): Grant 2-8

Girls basketball
Class C North semifinal
No. 2 Dexter 49,
No. 6 Calais 39
Calais (19-2)
Cook 7-16 0-0 16, Jones 1-4 0-1 2, McVicar 2-9 0-0 5, Bassett 0-0 0-0 0, Huckins 3-11 0-0 8, Bitar 0-1 0-0 0, Phillips 4-8 0-1 8. Totals 17-49 0-2 39
Dexter (17-3)
Mountain 0-2 0-0 0, Grant 5-22 9-10 20, Cummings 0-1 0-0 0, Herrick 7-13 3-3 17, Deering 1-2 2-2 4, Beem 2-3 2-3 6. Totals 15-43 16-18 49
Calais 11-17-33-39
Dexter 4-14-27-49
3-pt. goals, Calais (5-21): Cook 2-7, Jones 0-2, McVicar 2-9, Huckins 2-7; Dexter (3-15): Grant 3-14, Herrick 0-1