AUGUSTA — For the Madison Area Memorial High School girls basketball team, Waynflete had a little too much of everything. Too much defensive pressure caused by too much speed and tenacity, and too many offensive opportunities caused by too many Madison turnovers.

It added up to a 63-41 win for No. 3 Waynflete over No. 2 Madison in the Western Class C championship game.

“It was a really great team effort out there today,” said Waynflete senior guard Martha Veroneau, who scored a game-high 26 points and earned the Robin Colcord Award as the tournament MVP.

This is the first regional title in Class C for Waynflete (19-3), which won the Class D state title in 2003.

The Flyers will face Calais for the state championship next Saturday at the Bangor Auditorium. Madison ends the season at 17-4.

From the beginning, Madison had trouble handling Waynflete’s defensive pressure. The Flyers quickness and overall peskiness helped contribute to 40 Madison turnovers, 25 in the first half.

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“Very good defensive pressure. You’ve got Martha Veroneau leading the way, and it’s intense all the time. They don’t stop,” Madison coach Al Veneziano said. “They’re very well coached, and they do a nice job executing what they want to do.”

Veroneau scored 11 points in the second quarter, when the Flyers took control of the game, Ahead 8-6 after one quarter, Waynflete outscored the Bulldogs 23-12 in the second to take a 31-18 lead into the half. A 13-0 run midway through the second quarter pushed the Flyers’ lead to 17 points, 27-10.
When Waynflete starter Juliana Harwood left the game with an injury in the second quarter, the Flyers rallied around their teammate, Veroneau said.

“Our defense came up big. Madison’s defense is really good, and we struggled a little bit offensively (early),” Veroneau said. “We try to get the stops on defense and push it on offense and get our fast breaks. With not a lot of height, that’s where we really get a lot of our points.”

Madison did its best work against the Waynflete press early in the third quarter. When the Bulldogs were able to get into their halfcourt sets, they made a run, cutting Waynflete’s lead to 38-34 with four minutes to play in the third quarter, on a 3-point play by Samantha Bruce.

The Flyers closed the third quarter with an 11-0 run, however, and with 6:10 left in the fourth, Helen Gray-Bauer made a 3-pointer to push the lead to 20 points, 57-37.

“I thought in the third quarter we started to make a run at it, and the kids did some great things. We kind of took the ball by them a little bit to create some of those shots. When you stop dribbling with them, they jump all over you,” Veneziano said.

Cristie Vicneire had 15 points and eight rebounds for the Bulldogs, while Bruce added nine points. Rhiannan Jackson scored 11 points for Waynflete, and Leigh Fernandez had five steals.
   
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
tlazarczyk@mainetoday.com

 


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