TURNER — When Leavitt edged Nokomis last winter in Newport, it was probably one of the best girls basketball games in Maine in the last 10 years.

Tuesday night’s game might have been even better.

Nokomis, which lost to Leavitt in last year’s Class B state final, trailed the Hornets by 15 on Tuesday, but fought back and pulled out a 61-60 overtime victory.

“This was a great game,” Nokomis coach Kori Dionne said. “I wish we had more games like this. If there’s an atmosphere that was going to be anything like the (Bangor) Auditorium, it’s here. The crowd was awesome. The place was rocking. It was great.”

Leavitt (11-2) was led by Kristen Anderson, who scored 39 points and hit six 3-pointers, including some from close to 30 feet out. Nokomis retaliated by dominating the boards, outrebounding the Hornets, 47-17. Anna Mackenzie had 20 points and 14 rebounds for the Warriors, while Marissa Shaw finished with 19 points and 16 boards.

“We’re small, and we knew we had to box out and rebound,” Leavitt coach Tammy Anderson said. “We knew that was a strength of theirs, and they killed us on it.”

Leavitt was in foul trouble all night, and Adrianna Newton (15 points, 11 rebounds) and Amanda Jordan both fouled out. The Hornets forced overtime when Anderson hit two-back-to-back shots to tie the game at 53 before missing a 3-pointer from the left corner at the fourth-quarter buzzer.

In the overtime, the teams traded leads before Nokomis (12-0) went up for good at 59-58 on a free throw by Kylie Richards with 1:11 left. Kelsie Richards and Kylie Richards each added free throws, and Nokomis led 61-58 with 13.2 seconds to play.

Anderson went for the tie and missed a 3-pointer, but Sarah Frost put in the rebound with about five seconds left. Shaw got the ball under the basket and smartly held the ball while falling out of bounds as time ran out.

After an even first quarter, Leavitt started to pull away with both Richards on the bench with two fouls apiece. The Hornets led 31-16 with less than four minutes left in the half, but when Kelsie Richards went back in, Mackenzie controlled the inside, and the Warriors ended the half on a 10-0 run to get within 31-26 at the break.

“I think we could have been a little more patient on offense, but that’s not us,” Coach Anderson said. “Every time we’ve tried to do that, we’ve never been successful.”

“We had a lot of turnovers, and we knew we just needed to get our heads back in the game,” Shaw said. “And we did.”

Nokomis also got good minutes from Traci Carson off the bench, and once again, was able to take home a win while primarily using four sophomores off the bench in crunch time.

“Obviously we have a history with Nokomis,” Coach Anderson said. “I think they were the last team to ever beat us at home. We haven’t lost in two years at home. Heal points are Heal points, but right now, I’ll take a game like this, and we learn from it.”

Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243

mdifilippo@centralmaine.com

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