The Schenck girls from East Millinocket delivered one of the biggest knockouts of the basketball tournament thus far, getting the best of top-ranked Bangor Christian 35-29 on Wednesday at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
The Patriots of Bangor Christian came into the tournament with a 15-3 record at the top of Class D North, and the fourth-seeded Wolverines had a regular season record of 12-4.
Sophomore Guard Addyson Freeman led all scorers with 12 points in the hard-fought win, saying afterward that it “feels pretty good” to knock out a number one seed.
“We were really focusing on rebounding and moving around the ball, and just getting back on defense,” Freeman said.
Senior Center Mallory Brown and junior forward Harlee Sprague were particularly active on the boards for the Wolverines, providing dominant performances down low as Bangor Christian battled back to tie the game in the fourth quarter at 25-25.
But Freeman put the Wolverines back up by two, Brown had a huge offensive rebound and layup to push the lead to four, and then Freeman drove to the hoop for another layup to stretch it to a six-point game.
“We just really have a good connection. We all love each other, we all care about each other, we all wanted this,” Freeman added after the game. “We started from the bottom last year and we’re just really grateful that we’re up here.”
Junior forward Lyndsie Durost had nine points for the Patriots, including a clutch 3-pointer in the fourth quarter that tied things at 25-25. But it wasn’t to be for the Bangor Christian squad.
Bangor Christian coach Kevin Reed was proud of his team’s effort on Wednesday.
“I’m always proud of our girls. It’s never from a lack of effort,” Reed said. “And I told them in the locker room, am I disappointed in the outcome? Yes, but one day over the last four months does not change what we’ve done over the last four months.”
Schenck “did an amazing job handling our pressure” and made some big plays, he added. He considers it a successful season because of the way his team grew, competed and won games on the road.
“So I can’t take this one disappointment and say the season was a disappointment. Because we had some amazing moments, we had some great times, and I watched those girls progress each and every day,” Reed said.
“I am the luckiest coach in the state of Maine, because you will not find 12 girls with that character on any team,” Reed said. “I’ll bet my life on it.”
Schenck coach Kirsten Hutchins congratulated Reed on his team’s season when leaving the Cross Insurance Center on Wednesday. Reed congratulated her as well.
“Keep it going,” Reed encouraged the Schenck coach.