Quinn Corrigan is the hero again for Caribou girls
By Larry Mahoney, Bangor Daily News Staff
BANGOR — Freshman guard Quinn Corrigan’s two last-second free throws capped a miraculous comeback and gave Caribou High School an overtime victory over Biddeford in the State Class B championship game a year ago.
And she came through again on Tuesday night.
Sophomore Corrigan scored 17 second-half points including a key basket and free throw in overtime to give the fifth-seeded Vikings a come-from-behind 43-40 victory over fourth seed Dexter Regional High School/Piscataquis Community High School of Guilford in their Class C quarterfinal at the Cross Insurance Center.
Corrigan finished with a game-high 22 points to go with six rebounds, six steals and four assists. Fellow sophomore guard Lillian Bell had 13 points and two steals and freshman forward Peyto West had three points, five rebounds and two blocked shots for the Vikings, who are now 10-9.
TO OVERTIME — Dexter’s Brookelin Dorman battles for a rebound against Caribou’s Evelyn Roy in first half action of a Class C North quarterfinal Tuesday evening at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. Caribou won the game 43-40 in overtime.
Caribou will play top seed Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln in Thursday’s semifinal.
Senior guard and sparkplug Desiree Adams paced fourth seed Dexter with nine points, a game-high eight steals, five rebounds and two assists.
But Adams picked up her fourth foul with 1:50 left in the third period and missed a lengthy stretch of time before re-entering with 6:26 left in the game and fouling out with 4:54 to go.
Junior guard Brooklin Dorman had seven points, a game-high 10 rebounds and two assists before fouling out with 31.2 seconds left in the overtime. Junior guard Ella McClintock-Hatch finished with seven points and six rebounds for the 10-9 Tigers.
Starting Dexter senior point guard Annabelle Peakes played only a few minutes due to an ankle injury.
Following a Peakes free throw to open the overtime, Brynne Hamilton gave Caribou the lead for good with two free throws with 2:49 remaining.
The score remained 39-38 until Bell hit a free throw for Caribou with 41.1 seconds left.
DOWN FOR GRABS — Caribou’s Lilian Bell, left, and Dexter’s Desiree Adams battle for a loose ball in second half action of a Class C North quarterfinal Feb. 16 at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
Her second free throw bounced out but right into the hands of Corrigan, who banked it home to make it 42-38.
“I was really just lucky that the ball came to me at the end there,” Corrigan said about that play.
Kaitlyn Cookson’s two free throws closed the gap to two with 31.2 seconds left but the Vikings protected the ball until Corrigan was fouled with 8.9 seconds left and she sank one.
She said a key for the Vikings in the second half comeback was staying together.
“I mean, we’re a young team, so I think just keeping our heads there and staying in it, even when we’re down, and just playing through it,” Corrigan said.
Caribou started three sophomores and two freshmen. Standout senior forward Liv Adams, the team’s second-leading scorer a year ago, missed the entire season due to a knee injury.
“The girls really handled that pressure well down the stretch. I was really impressed,” said Caribou first-year head coach MacKenzie Turner. “We have a lot of players that can kind of go off any night but Quinn was definitely the one with the hot hand tonight and our girls knew that and were trying to get her the ball, for sure.”
Davis had seven first-half points and Desiree Adams had six to go with six rebounds, two steals and two assists as the Tigers took a 21-15 lead into the intermission.
Dexter used a 13-5 run to close out the half and build its six-point halftime lead.
The Tigers held the Vikings to two points in the second quarter until Corrigan nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key just before the buzzer went off.
Davis started the 13-5 run with a 3-pointer to end the first quarter.
Two free throws apiece by Adams and Dorman opened the second period to build the lead to 15-10.
Following a Bell basket off a Carly Levesque inbounds pass, Adams fed Dorman for a layup, Dorman returned the favor with a feed to Adams for a layup and Davis canned a lefthanded layup before Corrigan hit her three.
The Caribou sophomore agreed that having to step up and hit those game winning free-throws in last year’s state title game may have prepared her for Tuesday night.
“I think it might help a little bit with the nerves,” she said with a smile after the win.