Ponies hold off Waterville for Class B East quarterfinal victory

Foxcroft to face No. 1 Presque Isle in semifinal

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer
   

BANGOR — In a game in which points were hard to come by — the scores at the end of the first and second quarters were 4-3 and then 10-7 — the fifth-seeded Foxcroft Academy girls were held to a season- low total of 33 during a Class B East quarterfinal against No. 13 Waterville Senior High School on Feb. 15 at the Cross Insurance Center.

Fortunately for the Ponies, the team yielded its smallest total of the 20 games in 2013-14 to move to the semifinals with a 33-25 victory.
    Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
    WELL ARMED — Waterville sophomore Fotini Shanos has nowhere to go with the basketball around the defense of Foxcroft players, from left, junior Julia Annis and seniors Amber Anderson and Mackenzie Coiley with freshman Grace Bickford to the right. The fifth seed Ponies won the Class B East quarterfinal vs. the No. 13 Panthers at the Cross Insurance Center on Feb. 15 by a score of 33-25, and the team will now play top-seeded Presque Isle on Feb. 19.

    Early in the fourth quarter Panther senior Hannah Allen connected from beyond the 3-point line to put her team within a possession of Foxcroft at 23-20 for the team’s smallest deficit since the start of the second half.
    Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
    IN AND BY THE POST — Junior Julia Annis shoots over Waterville sophomore Fotini Shanos while teammates senior Amber Anderson (left) and junior Brianna Skolfield and Panther senior Colleen O’Donnell await a possible rebound. The Ponies’ 33 points was the team’s fewest of this season’s 20 games, but the 25 points surrendered was also the lowest total of 2013-14.

    The Ponies responded by giving the ball to junior Brianna Skolfield in the post, and she quickly bounced the ball off the glass and in for a five-point cushion. Skolfield ended up tallying a game-high 13 points, she was the sole player for either squad to reach double-figures, as well as snagging 14 rebounds as part of a double-double afternoon.
    Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
    TOURNEY TURNED OUT WELL — Driving to the hoop is Pony senior Mackenzie Coiley, with junior Brianna Skolfield to the right posting up. Foxcroft won in the program’s first girls’ quarterfinal berth since 2010, and like the squad of four years prior will be in the semifinal round.

    Just over a minute later, after one of the many stops the Ponies would make on defense, a shot from the floor by junior Julia Annis extended the Foxcroft advantage to 27-20 with less than five minutes to play. At the 3;26 mark Skolfield grabbed an offensive rebound — Foxcroft would lead Waterville in boards at 36-20 — and converted the putback to make the game 29-20 and place the Panthers’ season in jeopardy.
    Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
    TIP TOE ON THE HARDWOOD — Waterville freshman Jordan Jabar tries to get around Pony senior Amber Anderson during the Feb. 15 quarterfinal in Bangor.

    Committing the team’s seventh foul with 2:19 to play, while still being four away from the automatic trips to the free throw line, did little to help Waterville’s cause either. With the clock showing 1:28, senior Amber Anderson sank a free throw to up the Pony lead to double digits at 30-20.
    Soon after Waterville would get the team’s first points since Allen’s three over five and a half minutes earlier, but with the Ponies defending the arc to contest the 3-pointer the Panthers could only manage two as sophomore Fotini Shanos scored on an offensive rebound after a missed shot from long distance.
    Waterville pressed the in-bounds but senior Mackenzie Coiley threw the ball in to freshman Grace Bickford, and Bickford quickly passed it back to Coiley who dribbled upcourt through the defense. Coiley spied senior Brittany Dyer open on the left wing and Dyer then sank a long jumper to give her team a 10-point lead once again, this time with a mere 48 seconds to go.
    An Allen three-point shot, she would record all eight of her team-high points in the fourth quarter, did give Waterville the best result the team could hope for on the ensuing possession, but after the made shot head coach Robert Rodrigue was forced to use his final timeout to stop the clock at 39.4 seconds.
    Foxcroft again broke the press but missed the first shot of a one-and-one situation on the other end of the court. Panther senior Colleen O’Donnell tried a 3-pointer but the ball bounced off the rim and right into the grasp of Bickford. Soon after Coiley had the ball and she was fouled to stop the clock with 16.4 seconds remaining.
    The 10th foul put the Ponies in the double-bonus, and Coiley’s first try from the line was good to round out the team’s point total for the day.
    In the first quarter Waterville made an attempt to dictate the flow of the contest by spreading its five players around the perimeter. With Foxcroft defending in a 3-2 zone, the Ponies opted to not be lured into the Panthers’ cat and mouse game and the Foxcroft five stayed in their positions as Waterville passed the ball around the top of the key. About three minutes of game time elapsed before the team tried to drive toward the basket, at which point the opening quarter concluded with the Ponies leading 4-3.
    Foxcroft improved to 13-7 with the victory, the team’s seventh win in the last eight games, and the Ponies ended Waterville’s season with the Panthers at 11-9. The contest, which was the first tournament game at the new Cross Insurance Center in school history, marked the first appearance for the Foxcroft girls in the quarterfinal round since the 2010 squad reached the Class C East semifinals.
    This year’s edition of the Ponies will also get to play in the regional final four, as Foxcroft is scheduled to face No. 1 Presque Isle High School on Wednesday, Jan. 19 at 8:35 p.m. The two-time defending state champion Wildcats will enter the game on a 63-game winning streak, having last lost about three years ago to Nokomis Regional High School in the 2011 Class B East semifinals. Two of the team’s 19 victories in 2013-14 came vs. the Ponies, including a 75-35 win in Aroostook County on Dec. 21.
    The rematch in Dover-Foxcroft on Jan. 11 ended in a Presque Isle victory, but by only two points at 50-48 for the Wildcats’ narrowest win of the season.

GIRLS BASKETBALL
Class B East
quarterfinal
No. 5 Foxcroft 33,
No. 13 Waterville 25
WAT    3    4    8      10  — 25
FA    4    6    11     12  — 33
    Foxcroft: Skolfield 13, Annis 6, Anderson 4, Bickford 4, Dyer 4 and Coiley 2.
    Waterville: Allen 8, O’Donnell 7, Jabar 5 and Shanos 5.
    Records: Foxcroft 13-7, Waterville 11-9.