The Lawrence Bulldogs erased an early 11-2 deficit and held the high-powered Oceanside High School Mariners to 12 second-half points en route to a 52-41 victory in the State Class B championship game at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor on Friday night.
Senior guard and Class B North tourney Most Valuable Player Maddie Provost and senior forward and all-tourney selection Ashley Shores each scored 19 points for the 17-5 champions from Fairfield The tenacious and high-jumping Provost also controlled the boards, finishing with a game-high 14 rebounds.
In addition, she had five assists and four blocked shots.
Lawrence outrebounded the taller Mariners 32-20.
“We knew we were really undersized and if we struggled rebounding, it wasn’t going to go well,” Provost said after the win. “I made it a key and a point to myself that when any shot went up, I had to go get it.”
Provost will continue playing at the college level next year at Holy Cross.
“She has really improved her rebounding,” said Lawrence coach Greg Chesley. “She has fairly long arms and can jump like most girls can’t.”
Shores grabbed four rebounds and did an exceptional defensive job on Oceanside freshman phenom Olivia Breen, who entered the game averaging nearly 25 points per game.
Breen finished with 17 points and eight rebounds for Oceanside of Rockland, which had its 19-game winning streak snapped and wound up 20-2 with both losses coming to Lawrence.
The 41 points was the fewest scored by Oceanside this season, 11 fewer than the previous low set in the 52-37 Class B South semifinal win over York.
Shores said she tried to keep Breen away from the block down low.
“I know how she likes to spin and all that,” Shores said about guarding Breen. “And when the shot went up, I knew I had to box out. She’s big and strong and going to be a great player and I knew if she got a rebound over me, I was done.”
Trying to contain Breen was sure to be a key for Lawrence Friday night.
“We knew we had to put pressure on Breen,” Chesley said. “Ashley is a senior and she is physically strong so she was able to bother Breen with her strength.”
Junior guard Jaycie Elkins had six points, three rebounds and two assists for the winners, who concluded the campaign with a seven-game winning streak. Senior forward Payton Cole had five points and two rebounds and Amiya Lawyerson had three rebounds and two points.
Senior guard Renee Ripley produced eight points, four rebounds and four assists for Oceanside and senior guard Addie Poland had seven points, five rebounds and four assists. Junior guard Grace Mackie finished with six points, three assists and two rebounds and junior guard Abby Stackpole had three points, two assists and two steals.
The Bulldogs were down by five at halftime after the two teams combined for nine 3-pointers in the first half.
But Lawrence scored the first 10 points of the second half to build a 34-29 lead that it would never relinquish. Provost and Shores each scored five of those points.
Oceanside cut the lead to two with a 6-3 spurt to close out the third period with Breen hitting a three to cap the flurry.
Elkins hit an important three to open the fourth quarter and, following a pair of Breen free throws, Provost hit a short jumper from the left side of the lane and a pair of free throws to extend the lead to 44-37.
A Poland free throw and Breen putback off the rebound of Poland’s missed free throw cut it to 44-40 with 3:20 to go.
Breen sank another free throw with 1:45 left to cut the deficit to three but that was the final point the cold-shooting Mariners would score as they went 1-for-12 from the floor in that fourth quarter.
Oceanside coach Matt Breen took responsibility for his team’s second-half scoring woes.
“I have to be more creative in getting my players better looks,” the Oceanside coach said. “That’s on me. I’ve got to get them some easy ones so they see the ball go in the hole.
“They played hard. I’m proud of everything they did. I just wish we got a better outcome,” Breen added.
Oceanside jumped out to an 11-2 lead with 3:30 left in the first period but the Bulldogs answered with a 13-3 spurt spanning the first and second periods to take a 15-14 lead.
The Mariners answered with a 13-5 run that gave them a seven-point lead but two Provost free throws and her steal, which led to a Lawyerson layup from an offensive rebound off Provost’s missed layup, sandwiched a Breen basket to close the gap to five.
“That’s a credit to Amiya for being in the right place at the right time,” Provost said. “It was good to go into the half after that play even though we were still down.”