BANGOR, Maine — When shots aren’t falling, it is defense and rebounding that makes up the difference.
Shead of Eastport exhibited those traits on Saturday night, limiting Deer Isle-Stonington to six second-half points on the way to a 34-22 Class D North girls basketball quarterfinal victory at the Cross Insurance Center.
The third-seeded Tigerettes played an effective 3-2 zone defense that hampered the offensive effectiveness of the No. 6 Mariners and grabbed a 44-30 rebounding advantage to grind out the win. The teams split their two regular-season meetings.
Deer Isle-Stonington had difficulty finding space to operate inside against the zone. The Mariners attempted just 36 shots and made only six (17 percent).
Shead (13-6) moves on to Thursday’s 2:05 p.m. semifinal, where it will face No. 2 Washburn (15-4), a 67-62 winner over Katahdin on Saturday night.
“We started rebounding offensively, defensively, pushing the ball,” said junior guard Holly Preston, who went 8-for-10 from the foul line en route to a game-high 17 points and also pulled down 10 rebounds to spark coach Corey Sullivan’s squad.
“We moved into the 3-2, which really packed it in and shut down their big girl (Ally Eaton) who scores,” Preston added.
Senior Cierra Seeley posted 10 points and four rebounds and Hannah Lank snatched 10 boards to go with her five points for Shead, which shot only 20 percent (10-for-51) from the floor. Cassidy Wilder also grabbed eight rebounds.
“If we’re passing the ball good, we’re pretty dangerous. I’ve never seen us miss so many layups,” Sullivan said.
Eaton, a senior, led Deer Isle-Stonington (8-11) with 11 points, which put her over the 1,000 mark for her career. She grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.
The Mariners also received four points and six rebounds from Orly Vaughn and four points and four rebounds from Natalie Knowlton.
Shead pulled in front for good over the last 1:43 of the first half as Preston hit a runner from the paint and made three of four free throws to make it 20-16.
But the Tigerettes didn’t put the game away until the last five minutes, after Eaton scored on a drive to the basket late in the third to reach 1,000.
With Shead leading 25-22, Seeley scored off a loose ball in the lane and Lank made an offensive-rebound bucket to push the lead to seven with 3:47 to play.
The Mariners committed four more turnovers and Preston scored five more points to finish off the victory.