Presque Isle High School senior guard Faith Sjoberg knew her shots would have to eventually fall.
And they did.
Sjoberg missed her first five 3-pointers but wound up hitting eight of 14 the rest of the way en route to a 30-point performance that guided the fourth-seeded Wildcats to a 45-30 win over No. 12 Mount View of Thorndike in a Class B North quarterfinal at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor on Saturday morning.
Her eight 3-pointers is a Class B tournament record.
Presque Isle, now 14-6 and winner of five in a row, will take on top seed Old Town, 19-1, in Wednesday night’s 8:30 semifinal at the Cross Insurance Center.
Mount View finished up at 8-12.
Sjoberg, who recently eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau, nailed her first three with 6:03 left in the second quarter and her team trailing 13-2.
She hit four more in the quarter to give her Wildcats a 22-15 lead at the intermission.
Presque Isle was 7-for-17 from the floor in the second period while holding the Mustangs to three basket on 11 shots.
Presque Isle also outrebounded Mount View 12-6 in that period which led to several second-chance points.
“I don’t know what happened in the first quarter there,” said Sjoberg. “I just wasn’t warmed up enough, I guess. But once I hit the first one, the rest came with it. I felt more confident over the rest of the game.”
She said once she gained her confidence, “I wanted to get the ball and keep shooting.”
“She’s a good player,” said Mt. View coach Mark Cooper, whose team was making its first trip to the Class B North quarterfinals since 2009. “Our girls tried hard. We had hands in her face, she was five or six feet behind the (3-point) line. We did what we could.”
Sjoberg also grabbed six rebounds and dished out two assists.
Junior guard Anna Jandreau contributed eight points and three rebounds.
Jandreau hit a pair of threes early in the third quarter to help expand the lead to 28-18 and the Wildcats outscored the Mustangs 13-3 over the remainder of the quarter to swell the lead to a comfortable 20 points after three periods.
Rossalyn Buck had six rebounds and two steals to go with two points; Jorja Maynard had six rebounds and Sadie Lapointe had three rebounds and three steal for the winners.
Clockwise, from left: Presque Isle’s Jorja Maynard (let) and Mt. View’s Kayleigh Dunton try to gain possession of the ball during Saturday’s Class B North quarterfinals; Presque Isle coach Jeff Hudson shouts out instructions to his squad; Presque Isle’s Anna Jandreau (left) dribbles past Mt. View’s Syd Vogel during Saturday’s game. Credit: Joseph Cyr / Houlton Pioneer Times
Hard-working senior guard Hannah Coolen sparked Mount View with 15 points, eight rebounds and two steals.
Coolen became just the second player from Mount View High School to reach 1,000 points earlier this season, joining former UMaine star Emily Ellis.
Ari Braden had eight points and eight rebounds.
Syd Vogel had eight rebounds and Kricket Thompson had four, as did Kayleigh Dunton.
After missing their first 13 3-pointers, the Wildcats wound up connecting on 10 of their final 23 attempts.
“We got off to a terrible start, honestly. I don’t know if it was nerves or what it was,” said Presque Isle coach Jeff Hudson. “We were awful at the beginning of the game. We kind of came out of it a little bit but I still think kids didn’t get shots.
“Thank God Faith had 30. She was tough and Anna (Jandreau) played better in the second half. We need those two to be big,” Hudson said.