BANGOR, Maine — Less than a month ago, the Caribou High School girls basketball team beat visiting Ellsworth 65-22. It had also topped Ellsworth 40-23 earlier this season in Ellsworth.
The two teams met again in the Class B North semifinals on Wednesday afternoon in Bangor but it was a completely different game, although top seed Caribou did again come out with the win.
The much-improved and fourth-seeded Eagles trailed by just four with 1:11 remaining. But the Vikings hit their last six free throws and 22 of 27 for the game to oust the Eagles 47-37 at the Cross Insurance Center.
The 19-1 Vikings, winners of 14 in a row, will face second seed Erskine Academy of South China, 16-4, in Friday’s 6 p.m. title game at the Cross Center.
Erskine Academy topped John Bapst of Bangor 46-38.
Ellsworth concluded a 13-7 campaign.
This was the third straight year Caribou and Ellsworth met in the semifinals, and Ellsworth had posted a pair of 20-point wins over the Vikings the previous two years.
“It wasn’t our best game but I have a super tough group of girls and, in the end, we found a way [to win],” said Caribou coach Kayla Brown. “We’d lost to them the last two years in the semifinals and this shows how hard these girls have worked. We have a group of seniors who wanted to get back here and we finally pulled out a win.”
Brown said despite their lopsided regular season wins over Ellsworth, they knew it wasn’t going to be easy.
She said Ellsworth coach Andy Pooler “does a real good job.”
“We knew they would be ready for us and they were,” said Brown.
“Their defense got a lot better. They played great,” said Caribou senior guard and Miss Maine Basketball semifinalist Madelynn Deprey, who led the way with 17 points, 13 rebounds and four steals.
It was a game of runs that saw Caribou jump out to a 15-7 lead before Ellsworth followed that with a 12-1 run to take a 19-16 lead into the intermission.
Caribou rattled off a 10-3 run to take a 28-23 lead in the third period but the Eagles answered with five straight points to tie it.
The Vikings took a lead they would never relinquish with an 8-2 run to close out the quarter behind four foul shots by Deprey, and a nice little spin move along the base line and a jumper from freshman guard Lily Bell.
Two Deprey foul shots began the fourth quarter to make it 38-30 but then Eagles’ Violet Ray hit a three-pointer.
Deprey then scored Caribou’s only basket of the fourth quarter when she put in an offensive rebound with five minutes remaining.
Kaylee Bagley’s layup cut it to 40-35 with 3:15 to go but that would be the last field goal of the game for either team.
Caribou shot 1-for-12 from the floor in the fourth quarter while Ellsworth went 2-for-10.
A Bell free throw was answered by two Addison Atherton foul shots for Ellsworth with 1:11 left to make it 41-37.
After Caribou senior Brianna Levesque hit a pair from the free throw line, Ellsworth was called for traveling and Liv Adams sewed up the win with two free throws. She added two more later.
Adams went 9-for-10 from the free throw line in the game.
“At the beginning of the season, I wasn’t a very good free throw shooter,” said Adams. “But I worked hard on it in practice because I know you really have to focus on your free throws at the end of the game. They can win you games.”
The Vikings’ full-court 1-2-2 trap was effective, forcing a number of Eagle turnovers.
“Typically, we’re not necessarily looking to get a steal but we’re trying to force a quick, fast, ugly shot or get turnovers,” said Deprey, who was thrilled to be playing in a final.
“Words can’t explain what it feels like,” said Deprey, stressing how much her team works to try to get better each day. “Getting to the final shows that our work has paid off,” said Deprey.
Junior Adams also finished with 17 points for the Vikings and she chipped in with seven rebounds and three steals. Freshman Quinn Corrigan had eight points, three rebounds and two steals. Levesque had three points, four rebounds and two steals.
The Eagles, who were without three of their top eight players due to injuries, received 12 points, seven rebounds and two steals from senior Atherton.
Ray had nine points and five rebounds and senior Lily Bean had a game-high five assists to go with five points, five rebounds and four steals. Bagley had four points and five rebounds and Austyn Atherton, Addison’s freshman sister, had seven rebounds and two points.
The Atherton sisters also did an impressive job guarding Deprey, the Big East’s leading scorer during the regular season at 21.7 points per game.
“The ball just didn’t drop when it needed to tonight,” said Ellsworth coach Pooler. “But I’m proud of them. They just play so hard, no matter what. Backs against the wall, injuries. The ball goes up, the bright lights don’t faze them. They just play extremely hard and for each other.”