GARDINER — Maranacook took the pressure off itself by calling off the pressure against Gardiner in the second half of Thursday night’s game.

Having senior center Christine Miller step out and take a few 3-pointers didn’t hurt, either.

Miller scored 11 of her 24 points in the final 3:30 of the third quarter to spark a 14-2 Maranacook run that led to a 52-45 win over Gardiner in both teams’ Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference regular season finale.

With the win, the Black Bears (15-3) clinched the No. 1 seed in the Western C tournament and a spot in the KVAC championship. Gardiner (7-11) will likely have to go on the road for an Eastern B prelim next Tuesday.

“We pulled back our press so we could get our feet under us a little bit more, and then we worked our offense and got some open looks,” Miller said.

Miller, who also finished with nine rebounds and six assists, started the game-changing run with a drive to the basket that cut Maranacook’s deficit to 37-32. She followed that with back-to-back 3-pointers in a 29-second span that put Maranacook in front for good at 38-37, then fed Elizabeth D’Angelo (10 points, 10 rebounds, seven steals) for a basket.

Mary Toman broke up the run briefly with a drive to the hoop to pull the Tigers back within one, but Miller answered with her third 3-pointer of the period to help her team take a three-point lead into the fourth quarter.

“Usually, I like to be inside and pop out. But I wasn’t getting any calls tonight, so I just kind of stayed out (of the paint),” Miller said.

“We had some defensive stops and played more patiently with the ball,” Maranacook coach Jeannine Paradis said. “Christine stepped up hit some big shots. Sage Hyland hit some big shots in the paint for us as well. So it’s kids stepping up when we need it most.”

Assisted by Miller, Hyland hit a pair of mid-range jumpers to start the fourth quarter and extend Maranacook’s lead to 48-41.

Gardiner missed its first seven shots from the field in the fourth before Lauren Chadwick temporarily broke the spell with a 10-footer with 3:16 left to pull the Tigers within three. The Tigers (1-for-11 in the quarter) wouldn’t score again, though, and Sarah Clough hit a pair of free throws with 19 seconds left to seal it.

“I thought we got good looks. We just couldn’t hit anything,” Gardiner coach Mike Gray said. “They got some second chances and some third chances and they capitalized.”

Toman led the Tigers with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Morgan Carver added nine points.

Gardiner emerged from a back-and-forth first half with a five-point lead after Carver hit a 3-pointer and Chadwick converted a layup to close the half.

Toman picked up eight points in the third quarter to help the Tigers extend the margin to seven, but Maranacook adjusted and shut her down in the fourth quarter.

“We looked to get to the basket line more on help side, and we really had to try and work on fronting (Toman),” Paradis said. “If we stepped out to rotate up to the perimeter, it was making sure that whoever stepped out on her could remember to front and not allow easy penetration past us.”

“I thought she played well,” Gray said of Toman. “We had a stretch in the third quarter where that was the only thing working offensively. We tried a couple of different things, but they stepped up and got stops. Both teams got to play a little bit more physical than normal and we didn’t finish down the stretch as a result, and it affected (Maranacook) earlier.”

Maranacook will face unbeaten Spruce Mountain for the KVAC championship at 7 p.m. Saturday at Cony High School.

Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638

rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com

Twitter: @RAWmaterial33

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