AUGUSTA — A strong second half helped the Cony girls basketball team move along in the Class A North playoffs Friday night.
The Rams buried seven 3-pointers in the second half en route to a 48-37 win over Brewer in a quarterfinal game at the Augusta Civic Center. Abby Morrill led No. 3 Cony (12-7) with 19 points, while Morgan Cunningham added 11 points.
“We’re so excited (for the win), we’re so ready (for this run),” said Morrill, a junior.
Allie Flagg led No. 6 Brewer with 17 points, while Abbie Flagg added eight. The Witches finished 6-13.
Brewer jumped out on an 11-0 run in the first quarter. Cony had some early offensive struggles, only able to muster six points in the period. The Rams were able to fight back in the second quarter, outscoring the Witches 11-6 to pull within 19-17 at the half.
“We were just telling each other (at halftime) to keep passing and look for good shots, shoot them when we had them and play really good (on defense),” Morrill said.
“Tonight, you could see from the get-go, we weren’t knocking shots down,” Cony head coach John Dennett added. “We finished 12 of 26 from the free-throw line. I just told them, ‘Hey look, we’re a really good basketball team. Now we have a different basket, shots will start falling. Get out of your heads and just go have fun.”
Both teams were back-and-forth in the third, but Cunningham, Morrill and Maci Freeman each found their shot beyond the arc. Cony hit four three-pointers in the third period alone, taking a 33-29 lead into the fourth and never looked back.
“I’m super proud of my team,” Brewer head coach Tanna Ross said. “They played great defense, they played great together. Things just didn’t turn out the way that we hoped.”
Morrill scored eight points in the fourth quarter to seal the victory for the Rams.
“Any time you get a win in the tournament (it’s great),” Dennett said. “We’re not really veterans of the tournament. We haven’t been here long. Last year, we won our first game and then lost to Lawrence. We’re not seasoned yet. But it was a good win over a good team.”
Morrill said she believes the Rams are prepared for a deep run in the playoffs.
“We had a super hard season and a super hard schedule,” Morrill said. “We stuck together, we have a couple new girls who really help our team (in the starting five) and a few of us who have been together since the fourth grade and have been really close to each other throughout the years.”
Brewer fought throughout the second half, but had offensive struggles of its own, scoring 10 points each in the third and fourth quarters.
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