2 min read

BANGOR — It’s been a theme for the Gardiner girls basketball team all season long. The Tigers don’t stuff the stat sheets, and they don’t dazzle you, they simply get the job done.

Gardiner did so again Wednesday night, defeating Presque Isle 46-29 in a Class B North semifinal at Cross Insurance Center. The top-seeded Tigers advanced to Friday’s regional final against No. 2 Lawrence.

“We just have girls who buy into being a true team,” said Gardiner coach Britney Gero. “Not one person is going to be selfish. They spread it around, and they know if it’s not their night, they have so many teammates who are going to step up, and they’re going to celebrate them the whole way.”

After both teams got off to a slow start, Gardiner (19-1) took control with an 18-point second quarter. The Tigers were led in scoring by Madison McMahon and Alexa Quintana with 11 points each.

Balanced scoring is far from unusual for Gardiner. In a Jan. 12 win at Lawrence, the Tigers had seven players tally six points or more despite none scoring in double figures. They also didn’t have a double-figure scorer in a quarterfinal win over Cony on Saturday.

“We’re a together team where everyone is consistent, and that really helps us,” Quintana said. “We really lucked out with the girls we have. If we were all selfish and didn’t share or communicate with each other, we wouldn’t be where we are at all.”

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Then there’s the defensive side, where Gardiner truly shined Wednesday. In Presque Isle’s quarterfinal win against Hermon, Georgianna and Lenora Curtis bullied the Hawks in the paint. Against Gardiner, the two forwards combined for two points and no field goals.

“We’re pretty big inside as well, and we focused really hard on how we were going to break the press and try to get middle,” Gero said. “We knew they were going to get Georgianna the ball, so we focused on how we could shut that down and make other kids on their team step up.”

Gardiner is now on the precipice of its first regional championship since 1975. Gero and Quintana acknowledged it will take another total team effort to beat Lawrence.

“It’s super exciting — it’s exciting to even come this far,” Quintana said. “We can’t wait, and we’re hoping to get past that game and play for a state championship.”

Mike Mandell came to the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel in April 2022 after spending five and a half years with The Ellsworth American in Hancock County, Maine. He came to Maine out of college after...

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