BREWER, Maine — Brewer High School’s packed gymnasium grew quieter than Santa’s workshop on the day after Christmas when Witches’ senior Leah Jackson’s nose was bloodied during a loose-ball scramble during the third quarter of Tuesday’s game with undefeated Brunswick.
Shortly after, the determined Jackson would return, to a rousing ovation, and she and her teammates would deliver an early Christmas present.
Jackson scored 15 of her 17 points in the second half while Meghan McLain hit some monumental perimeter shots as the Witches rallied for a thrilling 57-54 overtime victory in a KVAC Class A girls basketball crossover game.
When asked about the play, all Jackson recalled is that her presence on the floor was needed as Brewer chipped away at what had been a 10-point Brunswick lead in the first half.
“It just hurt so bad, but I came out, got it to stop bleeding then I knew my team needed me,” said Jackson.
The Dragons (5-1) led 30-22 at halftime, thanks to 10 first-half points from Claire Baecher. But the Witches put the clamps down on her in the second half, denying her any open looks in the low post and throwing two defenders on the 6-foot-3 senior quite often.
“We wanted her to get as few catches as she could, she’s a good player,” said McLain, whose 3-pointer from NBA range gave the Witches a 48-45 lead with 2:21 left in regulation.
But Baecher, who would score a game-high 22 points, hit some big 3s of her own, including one from the top of the key with two seconds left which sent the teams to overtime tied at 52.
That’s when coach Andy Nickerson calmed his troops down, and Brewer kept its composure.
“We told our kids that we’ve got four more minutes to play as hard as we have,” said Nickerson, whose club improves to 4-2. “Our kids fought back, we didn’t lay down. We just kept playing, playing and playing. I couldn’t be prouder of our kids.”
The Witches would score the first five points of the extra period, including a baseline drive by Sheri Valley and two clutch free throws from Jackson and another from McLain.
After a bucket by Baecher brought Brunswick back to within three with 38 seconds left, the Dragons couldn’t connect on two perimeter attempts in the final seconds.
Jackson spearheaded the Witches’ aggressive defense in the second half. They frequently played a full-court zone press and a half-court trap to deny the Dragons the fast-break buckets they were getting early in the game.
“Coach always says that defense sparks our offense, so we got out there and made the plays and that sparked our offense,” said McLain, who led Brewer with 19 points, including 4-for-5 from beyond the arc.
Brewer’s aggressiveness seemed to wear down the Dragons later in the game, and Jackson in particular was able to counter Brunswick’s height advantage with her feisty play underneath.
“[Coach] just told us to bring it to them. We do best when we, as a team, take it to the rim ourselves. That seemed to work well for us,” said Jackson, who had four steals and eight rebounds.
“We had 11 kids show up with as much intensity as any [team],” added Nickerson.
Valley finished with 10 points for Brewer while Baecher grabbed seven rebounds for Brunswick.
