Dexter girls roll by Mattanawcook in C North semifinal
By Larry Mahoney, Bangor Daily News Staff
BANGOR — The top-seeded and defending Class C North champion Dexter Regional High School girls avenged their only loss, using an 11-3 run to close out the first half on the way to a 42-27 win over fourth seed Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln at the Cross Insurance Center on Thursday night, Feb. 22.
Dexter, now 19-1 and winner of 15 straight, advanced to take on third seed Penobscot Valley of Howland, 18-2, in the regional final.
Mattanawcook Academy wound up 16-4.
Dexter won both regular season games against the Howlers, 48-32 and 39-34.
ON TO THE REGIONAL FINAL — Dexter’s Abilene Corson takes a foul shot during a Class C North semifinal game vs Mattanawcook Academy at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor on Feb. 22. Dexter won 42-27.
Dexter’s forte has always been its defense and that was the case again as the Tigers held Mattanawcook to a 23.7 percent shooting night from the floor.
Dexter, which gave up an average of just 25.5 points per game during the regular season, limited the Lynx to a 3-for-17 showing from the floor in the first half while building its halftime lead.
“We just try to compete every possession and make it as hard as we possibly can,” said longtime Dexter coach Jody Grant. “And rebounding. That was one of the concerns we had because of (Mattanawcook’s) ability to rebound the basketball. They’re so big and so long so we really had to do a great job trying to keep them off the glass.”
Each team had 23 rebounds.
PEEK AROUND — Dexter’s Desiree Adams looks to pass the ball around Mattanawcook defender Kaitlyn Thornton during the Class C North semifinal.
“Defense is our thing, everybody knows,” said junior point guard Abby Corson, who had four points and turned in an outstanding game as the floor general. “We work really hard in practice to be good on defense. And with their size, we knew we needed to box out.”
The Tigers were leading 9-7 when they began their 11-3 run.
Cally Gudroe hit two free throws to conclude the first period scoring and opened the second half with a left handed layup and she slashed across the lane.
Desiree Adams found Mazie Peach with an inbounds pass and the 6-foot-3 senior center hit a six-foot jumper from the lane.
Senior forward Hannah Dean sank a free throw and scored off her offensive rebound to make it 18-7.
She then took a pass from Corson and scored off a nifty inside move.
Lauren House’s 3-pointer late in the half prevented the Lynx from getting shut out in the quarter. Navenah De La Cruz had the assist.
Dean began the third quarter with a traditional 3-point play as she was fouled while converting a Corson pass.
The Lynx never got closer than 11 the rest of the way.
Dean powered the Tigers with 18 points and seven rebounds. Senior guard Gudroe had 10 points, four rebounds and three steals and senior Peach contributed eight points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots. Corson had two rebounds and two assists to go with her four points
Impressive sophomore post player Addison Cyr led Mattanawcook Academy with 18 points, 12 rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot. Senior guard Lauren House had five points and a couple of steals. Senior forward Kaitlyn Thornton had six rebounds, two steals and two points.
Sophomore guard Megan House, Lauren’s sister, had two points and five rebounds.
“We didn’t get a lot of great shots and the ones we did, we felt rushed,” said Mattanawcook Academy coach Pat House. “Defensively, Dexter really got after it, especially with their guard play. They made us feel uncomfortable at times. We had a hard time executing because of their ball pressure.
“We never found a rhythm to execute in the half-court and they did a really good job not letting us get out into transition which is something we flourish at,” House added.