The cream rose to the top.
With the score tied 25-25 and four minutes remaining in Monday night’s Class C North final between top seed Stearns of Millinocket and No. 3 Penobscot Valley of Howland, Stearns senior guard and Miss Maine Basketball semifinalist Alisyn Alley stepped up and delivered.
She hit a pair of crucial back-to-back baskets and fed a wide open Kasey Kenyon for another as Stearns pulled out a hard-fought 32-30 win in a defensive battle at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
Stearns, now 16-3, will take on 21-0 Hall-Dale in Saturday’s state final at the Augusta Civic Center. Game time is 7 p.m.
It is Stearns’ first regional championship since 1995-96 when it was in Class B.
PVHS wound up 17-4.
The teams split regular season games.
“I had to take over the game, not just on offense but on defense, too,” Alley said. “If I didn’t, who knows where we would be right now.”
“Big-time players take over big-time games and I have a big-time player,” said Stearns coach Nick Cullen.
Alley broke the 25-25 tie and gave Stearns the lead for good when she drove the lane and flipped in a left-handed layup.
She then stole the ball, her seventh steal of the game, and scampered down the court before making a nifty move and banking in a 6-footer with her left hand.
“I work on my left hand a lot, I always have,” Alley said.
“Alisyn is [Penobscot Valley Conference Class C] Player of the Year for a reason,” said Penobscot Valley coach Nate Case. “She’s incredible. The ball in her hands late, what do you do?
“We knew late in the game, it was going to be in her hands so we had some wrinkles in our defense but, all in all, she finds a way to get the basketball on offense or defense,” added Case.
After Alley’s baskets, Ellie Austin’s free throw and Kaya Loring’s steal and layup cut it to 29-28 with 2:40 remaining.
But Alley and Stearns worked the ball around before Alley found a wide open Kenyon under the basket and she laid it in with 1:30 remaining.
“That was open the whole game so I figured they wouldn’t be paying much attention to her,” Alley said. “I knew she would be open and that she would make it.”
“That is a tough pass for her to make,” Kenyon said. “They’re tall. But she made it that time and, luckily, my shot went in.”
Alley missed the front end of a one-and-one and Holly Loring grabbed the rebound with 17.3 seconds left and, three seconds later, Emilee Ireland converted Rebecca Carson’s inbounds pass in the lane to cut the lead to 31-30.
Alley sank a free throw with 9.6 seconds left but Austin’s desperation three at the buzzer fell short.
Alley finished with 14 points, three assists and three rebounds to go with her seven steals.
She became the fourth Alley sister to eclipse the 1,000-point plateau in her high school career earlier this season.
Mikayla Anderson had 11 points and two steals and Kasey Kenyon had four points and 10 rebounds along with two steals.
Kaya Loring’s nine points, four rebounds and three steals led PVHS. Twin sister Holly Loring had eight points and 13 rebounds. Austin had seven points and five rebounds.
Emilee Ireland had four points and seven rebounds.
Mia Neal banked in an offensive rebound with four seconds left in the half to give the Howlers a 15-14 lead at the break.
Both teams played exceptional team defense as evidenced by the shooting percentages.
Stearns shot 28.6 percent from the floor (12-for-42) while PVHS shot 31.4 percent (11-for-35).
PVHS outrebounded Stearns 31-22.
“We were flustered at first but we got through it,” Alley said. “We work on defense a lot in practice, particularly our transition defense and we did a real good job of that.”
“I told our girls on the way down that if we scored in the 30s, we would win,” Cullen said. “I knew the game would be like this. Penobscot Valley plays hard. They play their tails off.”
“We knew it was going to be a good battle,” Case said.