BANGOR, Maine — Gardiner High School senior guard Morgan Carver said her team didn’t have any pressure on it entering Saturday afternoon’s Eastern Maine Class B quarterfinal against defending EM titlist and undefeated Mount Desert Island.
“And when there isn’t any pressure on you, you can just go out and play your game,” said Carver.
And the Tigers played it to perfection.
Darling’s/BDN Player of the Game Carver scored a career-high 26 points, including a four-for-five showing from beyond the 3-point arc, and she also held talented MDI sharpshooter Sierra Tapley to six points to lead the Tigers to a stunning 62-50 victory at the Cross Insurance Center.
The ninth-seeded Tigers, now 9-11, will take on Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference rival Camden Hills, 15-5 and the fourth seed, in Wednesday’s 3:35 p.m. semifinal.
MDI wound up 18-1.
Sophomore forward Mary Toman finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds for Gardiner and Logan Granholm had 11 points and five rebounds. Lauren Chadwick contributed seven rebounds and three assists and Savannah Vinton-Mullens had six rebounds and four assists.
Kelsey Shaw’s 19 points, 14 rebounds and four steals paced MDI. Sarah Phelps corralled eight rebounds, blocked four shots and had three steals to go with nine points. Darcy Kanu had seven points and five rebounds.
MDI shot just 29.9 percent from the floor, 1-for-13 behind the 3-point arc, and 33.3 percent from the free throw line.
MDI coach Brent Barker and his players gave full marks to the Tigers, who scored the game’s first eight points and never trailed although MDI did cut the lead to one at the end of the first quarter.
“They outplayed us in all aspects of the game. They deserved everything they got,” said Barker.
“They outhustled us. The team that came ready to play is the team that won,” said senior guard Phelps.
The tenacious and scrappy Tigers pressured the ball in both their player-to-player and zone defenses and forced the Trojans into uncharacteristic turnovers while also holding their own on the boards despite a height disadvantage. Both teams finished with 35 rebounds.
Gardiner also did an impressive job beating MDI’s press and generated some easy baskets in doing so.
“We wanted this game more. We kept up the same intensity the whole game and made very good decisions with the ball,” said Carver.
“We knew we had to box out because of their height,” said Toman who added that the 8-0 start “boosted our confidence level through the roof.”
The Trojans scored five unanswered points to pull within 22-20 but Carver hit a 3-pointer and Toman made two free throws before Shaw hit a free throw to close out the half.
The Tigers broke the game open with a 12-0 run to open the second half. Toman scored the first seven points and Carver notched the last five.