BANGOR, Maine — With the game on the line, Dexter snatched a thrilling one-point victory from Calais as senior Abbey Jordan hit a short-range jumper with about two seconds left to play to lift the No. 4 Tigers by the No. 5 Blue Devils 41-40 in an Eastern Maine Class C girls basketball quarterfinal Tuesday night at the Cross Insurance Center.
Dexter (17-2) advances to the semifinals Friday at 3:35 p.m., facing the winner of Tuesday’s nightcap between Narraguagus and Mattanawcook Academy.
The Blue Devils end their season at 13-6.
Dexter sophomore Megan Peach poured in 17 points to lead the Tigers, while senior Peyton Watson added nine.
Calais senior Madison McVicar led all players with 22 points, including 7-of-9 free throws, earning her Darling’s/BDN Player of the Game honors. McVicar attempted a whopping 28 shots in the contest. Junior Felicia Moholland added nine for the Blue Devils.
“I am just so proud of our kids for hanging in there,” Dexter coach Jody Grant said. “There were a lot of situations in that game where they could have hung it up, but they didn’t.”
Dexter led the entire first half, taking a 28-18 lead into the halftime break. But Calais clawed its way back into it in the second half, starting the third quarter with a 7-0 run and held the Tigers to just two points for the period to cut Dexter’s lead to 30-28.
Calais took its first lead on a McVicar 3-pointer to start the fourth quarter. The two squads battled back and forth, with Dexter taking a 35-33 lead with 28 seconds to play in regulation, only to see Calais tie the game at 35-35 on a Moholland offensive putback.
In overtime, Peach fouled out with 3:17 to play, forcing coach Grant to go with a smaller, quicker lineup. He ended the game with five seniors on the floor.
“They have played an awful lot of basketball and I couldn’t be more proud of them in that situation,” Grant said.
Calais coach Dana Redding liked his chances with star player McVicar on the free-throw line with 12.4 seconds to go, but her shot didn’t fall, giving Dexter a chance for one final scoring opportunity.
“Sometimes you make them and sometimes you don’t,” Redding said. “These kids played extremely tough. We’re very young … a lot of them have never played on this floor before. I am prouder than heck of them.”