The undefeated Deer Isle-Stonington Mariners were without leading scorer Rylee Eaton for their Class D North schoolgirl quarterfinal against Ashland on Monday morning, but they overcame her loss.
Senior guard Lily Gray scored a game-high 15 points and sophomore forward Taylor Hardy had 14, including 12 in the third quarter, as the second-seeded Mariners triumphed 57-28 over the No. 7 Hornets at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
That sets up a 7:05 p.m. Thursday rematch of last year’s semifinals against No. 3 Woodland (14-5), which eliminated No. 6 Katahdin of Stacyville 59-33 on Monday.
Woodland won last year’s semi 54-45.
[Check out the latest C North girls tourney bracket standings here]
Deer Isle-Stonington (17-0) led by seven points in the opening minute of the third quarter when Hardy rattled off three straight baskets to expand the lead to 30-13. The Hornets (8-12) couldn’t get any closer than 12 the rest of the game.
“I definitely got my jitters out in the first half,” said Hardy. “I couldn’t have done it without my team. I was surprised at first but I kept going and my team kept me up.”
“With one of our main players out, Taylor had to come in strong for us to come out with a win and she did,” said sophomore guard Kaylee Morey.
Ashland led 13-11 after the first quarter but the Mariners scored the first nine points of the second period and wound up outscoring the Hornets 13-2 in the quarter as Ashland went just 1-for-8 from the floor. Morey scored six points in the second period.
“We played very well,” said DI-S coach Randy Shepard. “We shared the ball well and our defense woke up and tightened up.”
Gray had five rebounds to accompany her 15 points and Hardy grabbed eight rebounds to go with her 14. Morey produced nine points, six rebounds and a game-high five assists, Katie Hutchinson had a game-high 11 rebounds along with four points and Brienna Limeburner finished with four points, seven rebounds, three steals and two assists.
Jamie Poulin led Ashland with 11 points and four rebounds and Olivia Tardie registered eight points and a team-high six rebounds. Each picked up three fouls in the first half.
Danni Carter had five points, three rebounds and two steals and Shelby Stolze had three rebounds, three steals and a basket.
“They’re a real good team. They are 16-0 for a reason,” said Ashland coach Ben Lothrop. “We were able to stay with them for a quarter. We played really well. But they have a lot of depth and that makes a big difference.”
Gray had 11 of her points in the first half and she also grabbed three rebounds as Deer Isle-Stonington took a 24-15 lead into the intermission.
Morey had seven points, four rebounds and three assists.
Hutchinson grabbed nine rebounds and had a basket.
Poulin’s seven points and Tardie’s six paced Ashland but both picked up three fouls in the half.
Poulin also hauled down three rebounds.
