SKOWHEGAN — The Skowhegan girls basketball team will go into the Class A North tournament as the No. 1 seed — and, given Thursday night’s performance, an emphatic No. 1 at that.
Jaycie Christopher scored 35 points, Callaway LePage added 20 and 10 rebounds, and the River Hawks finished off an undefeated regular season with probably their most impressive victory yet, a 67-47 triumph over second-place Gardiner.
Skowhegan is now 18-0, and will take an undefeated record into the tournament for the second time in three seasons. Coach Mike LeBlanc, though, said that there were still doubters around for the River Hawks to disprove.
“We talked a little bit tonight about how people are not disrespecting us, but they’re leaving us a little bit under the radar,” he said. “They say we haven’t beaten anybody (at) full strength. … I think we were just trying to earn a little bit of respect tonight.”
Gardiner was led by 15 points and 11 rebounds from Lizzy Gruber and seven points from Megan Carver. Gardiner finished 16-2, having begun the night locked into A North’s second seed.
“No matter how well anyone played or how poorly anyone played, I don’t think anyone’s beating that team tonight,” coach Mike Gray said. “Jaycie was just on from the get-go, and that just gets all of her teammates going.”
Skowhegan’s Annabelle Morris (22) strips the ball from Gardiner’s McKenna Johnson during a Class A North game Thursday night in Skowhegan. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel
Christopher, who became the school’s all-time leading scorer across both the boys and girls programs in Skowhegan’s last game against Cony and was recognized for the feat Thursday, caught fire early. She was already at 13 points after a 3-pointer with 1:50 left in the first quarter that put Skowhegan up 15-7, and she had 21 points by halftime, when the River Hawks led 37-20.
“We’ve always kind of had our eyes on the end of our season,” said Christopher, who now stands at 1,471 career points. “As we got deeper into our season, we knew the schedule was about to ramp up, and so we wanted to be ready for moments like this.”
LePage scored eight of her points in the third as Skowhegan built on the lead. Christopher, Annabelle Morris and Reese Danforth each had a pair of steals to lead a River Hawks defense that had nine thefts overall.
“I thought we all came out with energy, everybody that played came out with the intensity that we needed,” LeBlanc said. “Annabelle with her defensive pressure on the ball and her hustle set the tone early. Maddie (Morris) knocking down two threes in the first half, those were big to open up the floor for Callaway and Jay. And Jay and Callaway just took us on their shoulders.”
Gray credited his team’s effort even as the deficit grew, and said his team will be prepared to pivot to the tournament.
“Going in at halftime, going in at the end of the game, the heads aren’t down,” he said. “No one in that locker room is worried about having to play them again. They’re hoping just for a chance to play them again.”
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