C South girls basketball: Madison shuts down top-seeded NYA

AUGUSTA — It’s easy to toss around cliches like “aura,” “mystique” or “destiny” during tournament time.

The Madison girls basketball team would prefer something more grounded, like “defense.”

Down by 13 points to start the game, the fourth-seeded Bulldogs pressed No. 1 North Yarmouth Academy into submission the rest of the way and left the Augusta Civic Center with a 47-37 win Thursday in a Class C South semifinal.

Madison (17-3) — which last played in a state final in 2010 and has never won a state title in its history — will face No. 2 Hall-Dale on Saturday at the Civic Center for the regional championship.

NYA (18-2) scored the first 13 points of the game — eight by Athena Gee — but was held without a field goal during a 10-minute, 3-second span from late in the first quarter through the early third quarter. Before Emily Robbins made a layup 1:47 into the third to break the slump, the game had changed completely and NYA was down 21-20.

So, what happened in between? With his players feeling the pressure just by looking at the scoreboard, Madison coach Adam Rich turned up the pressure on NYA.

“I think the nerves kinda got to us and we turned the ball real early and they jumped on us quick,” Rich said. “We had to settle in on the defensive end, and I think we did that with some of the traps and rotations in our back end and slowed them down. I just think the defensive pressure was good enough for us.”

That commitment to defense set up Madison’s big shooters as Raegan Cowan (game-high 14 points) and Mackenzie Robbins (eight) combined for 12 points during the second quarter. Robbins made a basket off one of her game-high five steals, and Cowan — who pulled down nine rebounds although she is barely 5 feet tall — converted another bucket off her own rebound.

Madison’s Raegan Cowan races past NYA’s Graca Bila for the ball during a Class C South girls basketball semifinal game Thursday at the Augusta Civic Center. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

Only a 7-for-10 effort from the free-throw line in the period kept the Panthers up at the half, 20-18.

Overall, Madison led NYA in steals, 16-6.

“Our offense really runs a lot off our defense, and we were getting pressure on people and make them turn it over and then we go get easy layups,” Cowan said.

The sides traded baskets to start the third, but a pair of Jacey Moody free throws with 5:17 left gave Madison the lead for good, 25-24. Cowan drained a 3-pointer and two free throws and Elizabeth Kelley turned a steal into a basket to help the Bulldogs take a 32-27 lead after three. Madison’s Ava Landry came off the bench to grab four of her seven rebounds during the third, when two Bulldogs had to sit with four fouls apiece.

“Our bench really stepped up, whether it was energy, whether it was coming in when we needed them for big minutes, and they just did what they needed to,” Cowan said. “Everybody did their job today.”

NYA, which made five field goals in the quarter, hit only five more the rest of the way. Gee led the Panthers with 11 points, but scored only three after her big first quarter as Cowan shadowed her the rest of the way. Graca Bila, another key player and NYA’s only senior, was held to four points and fouled out midway through the fourth quarter, when Madison went 9-for-12 from the line (13-for-16 overall) to put the game away.

NYA’s Robbins had a game-high 12 rebounds.

“We knew going in it was a tough matchup for us, with their aggressive man-to-man defense. We faced a lot of zones during the season,” said NYA coach Tom Robinson, whose team’s only other loss was a 61-38 decision to Hall-Dale on Jan. 27. “I give them all the credit in the world. We played hard and we made some shots.

“It’s never a good feeling when you lose, but I’m happy with how the girls battled to the end. They left everything on the court.”

Next up for Madison is Hall-Dale, which dealt the Bulldogs their first loss of the season (69-37 on Jan. 31) after a 13-0 start. Rich, however, says his team has learned from the defeat.

“They took it us,” Rich said, “but from that game on, we learned, and I think we got better and better and I think it’s going to be a great matchup for us.”