C South girls basketball: Hall-Dale rolls to 2nd regional title in 3 seasons

AUGUSTA – The Hall-Dale girls basketball team is back in a familiar place.

Led by junior center Jade Graham’s 15 points, No. 1 Hall-Dale beat No. 3 Madison 49-36 in the Class C South final on Saturday night at the Augusta Civic Center. It’s the program’s second regional title in three seasons. The Bulldogs won the Gold Ball in 2022, beating Stearns 57-42 in the state championship.

“It’s amazing,” Graham said. “Seeing all of our hard work pay off to get to states again, it’s such a surreal feeling.”

“It’s the best feeling in the world,” added Hall-Dale senior guard Hayden Madore. “I couldn’t ask for anything more, honestly.”

Hall-Dale (20-1) will take on Dexter in the Class C final on March 2 at 7:05 p.m. in Augusta. Dexter beat Penobscot Valley 28-23 for the C North title on Saturday night.

Junior guard Torie Tibbetts had 12 points for Hall-Dale, while junior forward Marie Benoit added 10.

Madison was led by junior guard Mackenzie Robbins, who had 10 points. Junior guard Raegan Cowan scored seven points and senior guard Alison Griffeth added six points. Madison finished 17-4.

Offensively, Hall-Dale jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. Aided by a 13-0 run, Hall-Dale ended the first quarter with a 19-10 lead. Hall-Dale would add a 10-0 run in the second quarter, heading into the locker room at halftime with a 35-19 lead.

“We have amazing post players, some amazing guards and we have some really strong drivers,” Graham said. “Torie can drive that baseline and make those little bunny shots every day… Our offense kind of leads into our defense.”

“It definitely wasn’t our best scoring game, especially for myself,” added Madore, who had two points but distributed to her teammates throughout the game. “I think we all did a great job finding the hot hand, which was great today, and she did a great job. I think in the state game, we just need to find those hot hands and just keep rolling with it.”

Madison continued to fight throughout, and significantly improved its play throughout the second half, outscoring Hall-Dale, 17-14 .

“I’m very proud (of the team), very proud,” Madison head coach Adam Rich said. “They played hard from start to finish. That’s all you can really ask for. We didn’t execute at times, but it didn’t matter, they just kept fighting the whole way. That’s all you can ask for as a coach. If we’re going to go out, that’s the way you should go out, fighting.”

Madison ran into foul trouble, with five players picking up three fouls or more by the fourth quarter. Hall-Dale also put forth a strong defensive effort, forcing 22 turnovers out of Madison.

“I try to switch up some defensive (sets), but they just work hard on defense,” Hall-Dale head coach Laurie Rowe said. “Our defense leads to our offense. I’m just so proud of them.”

With the win, Hall-Dale completes a season sweep of Madison. Hall-Dale beat Madison 69-37 on Jan. 31 in Farmingdale.

“The program is looking up,” said Rich, who just completed his first season at Madison. “I think right now, obviously we’re not happy sitting and watching (the state title game) and no team would be happy. I’ll get the summer with them this year, I didn’t get that before. I think that’s going to bring us closer together as a unit.”