AUGUSTA — Down early against Cony in Friday’s Class A North girls basketball quarterfinal, Erskine Academy refused to panic. The Eagles’ patience paid off.
Mackenzie Roderick scored 20 points while Erskine’s defense held Cony to just 11 second-half points in a 45-37 win at the Augusta Civic Center.
The fourth-seeded Eagles (11-8) will face top-seeded Skowhegan at 3:30 p.m., Wednesday at the Civic Center. No. 5 Cony ends its season 11-8.
Trailing 20-11 midway through the second quarter, Erskine slowly chipped away and grabbed the lead on an Emily Clark tip-in with 4:31 left in the third. The defense took over from there, as Clark grabbed plenty of rebounds off the rim and loose balls off the floor. Erskine held Cony scoreless over a 10:46 span over the third and fourth quarters while Roderick scored seven points in the Eagles’ 15-0 run.
“We knew early on that Cony would be motivated, they’d come out and play hard, and we knew that we’d have to come out and match their intensity,” Erskine coach Jamie Soule said. “By the end of the first quarter, we were where we needed to be. The first half we didn’t rebound real well, and that’s what I thought hurt us. In the second half we rebounded real well, and that was the difference for us.”
Clark also helped on offense with 10 points for Erskine.
“We’ve been very strong on defense all year, and everybody just went out and did their best,” said Clark, who scored 18 points in a 49-33 win over Cony on Feb. 3. “We’ve been focusing on boxing out our opponents.”
Soule also credited forward/center Emma Stred and guard Grace Hutchins with strong defensive games.
Cony’s Sage Fortin, left, and Sierra Prebit, right, chase down a loose ball with Erskine’s Sarah Praul during a Class A North girls basketball quarterfinal game Friday at the Augusta Civic Center. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
Cony regained its touch midway through the fourth on a Sage Fortin 3-pointer and five of Kristen Kirk’s team-high 12 points to cut the deficit to 42-37, but a Cony turnover led to a Clark lay-up that sniffed out any chance at a Ram victory.
“I think we just kinda settled for a couple 3s (in the first half) instead of going inside, that’s probably my fault,” said Cony coach Adam Rich, who was without the services of key players Indiya Clarke and Abby Morrill due to injuries. “I probably should have changed it up a bit. You’ve got to give Erskine credit. They made shots when they needed to and kind of took it to us in that third quarter.”
Cony burst out to a 14-5 lead in the first quarter, with Alyssa Redman and Raegan Bechard sinking 3-pointers. A Kirk triple made it 20-11 with 5:53 left in the second before Erskine began to claw back, with Roderick scoring Erskine’s last six points of the half to cut the margin to 24-23. A Redman shot with one second left gave Cony a 26-23 lead at halftime.
Redman finished with 11 points for Cony, while Fortin added nine.
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