BANGOR — Her team took the lead in the first quarter and held it the entire way, but Nokomis Coach Kori Dionne still felt the Warriors got away with a subpar performance.
Nokomis, which had beaten Medomak Valley by 33 points in mid-January, got a much closer battle Saturday morning. The Panthers stayed close throughout, but Nokomis held on for a 58-51 victory in an Eastern Class B girls’ basketball quarterfinal at the Bangor Auditorium.
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“It was ugly,” Dionne said. “That was probably one of our worst games by far this season. I’m not sure the reasoning behind it, but an ugly win is better than a pretty loss, so we’ll take it.”
Second-seeded Nokomis (19-0) moves on to play No. 6 Old Town in a semifinal at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Seventh-seeded Medomak finishes 13-7.
“The first time we played them, they really pushed us around,” Medomak Valley Coach Randy Hooper said. “It really wasn’t pretty, to be honest with you. It was like women with schoolgirls. We just said, ‘Enough is enough. We’re not going to be pushed around.’ And I think you saw that today.”
Medomak Valley stayed in the game behind senior guard Alanna Vose, who had 16 of her 24 points in the second half. Nokomis was led by Anna Mackenzie (14 points, nine rebounds) and Marissa Shaw (14 points, six rebounds).
Kelsie Richards (12 points) and Emilee Reynolds (eight) were also hitting in the first quarter for Nokomis, and the Warriors led 20-10 after one quarter. They extended that to 28-13, but Medomak Valley crawled back, and when Vose banked in a 3-pointer in the final seconds, Nokomis led 30-23 at the half.
Medomak Valley got as close as 34-32 with 6:01 to play in the third quarter after a three-point play by Vose. But Kelsie Richards answered with a 3-pointer, and her twin sister, Kylie, stole the ball and made a layup to put the Warriors back up by seven.
Although Mallory Robbins scored nine points and Hannah Marks and Mallory Conary each had eight for Medomak Valley, the Panthers didn’t have any consistent scoring options besides Vose. That point was hammered home when Vose had to sit out for nearly 2½ minutes in the fourth quarter after banging her elbow. During that time, Nokomis went on a 6-0 run to lead 52-38.
Vose came back with 5:11 left and scored nine more points, but Nokomis played tight defense on her down the stretch, and Medomak Valley ran out of time.
While Dionne said the Warriors didn’t play up to their capability, she said she wasn’t overly concerned about her team getting on track by Wednesday.
“It’s better to have a game like that now, this early, so we can go back, look at the film, take a couple days in practice and get our heads back on straight,” Dionne said.
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