AUGUSTA — Not only did the Monmouth Academy girls basketball team win its first Class C regional championship Saturday night at the Augusta Civic Center, the Mustangs broke a 25-year old tournament record in the process.
Monmouth made 30 free throws in its 65-25 win over Old Orchard Beach, breaking the Class C tournament record of 28 shared by the 1992 Sacopee Valley and 1981 Hall-Dale teams.
“We definitely do a lot of competitions with free throws. Free throws are very important to us,” Monmouth guard Tia Day said.
Day scored 10 points in Saturday’s win and was presented the Robin Colcord Award as the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.
No. 3 Monmouth, now 17-5, will face North winner Dexter in the Class C state championship game next Saturday night at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. No. 4 Old Orchard Beach ends the season at 13-9.
The win gave the Mustangs their first regional title since winning in Class D in 2000, and they were dominant throughout the game. Monmouth never trailed, and kept the Seagulls without a field goal the entire first quarter.
Foul trouble dogged the Seagulls early, especially with strong post players Meghan LaPlante, who picked up three fouls in the first half, and Maggie Strohm, who picked up her fourth foul with 1:58 left in the second quarter. Strohm fouled out with 4:30 left in the third quarter.
“We wanted to try to get those big girls having to move early on in the game. They’re obviously pretty tall trees in there. They get their hands on a lot of balls. We knew if we could get them in some foul trouble it would become our advantage,” Monmouth coach Scott Wing said.
As the game progressed, the Mustangs were able to press more and force Old Orchard turnovers, widening their lead.
“The thing that I was frustrated with was we didn’t get scoring much early, so we couldn’t get into our press,” Wing said. “I told the girls there in the middle of the second quarter, if we could put a little run on and get pressing, it will probably turn around in a hurry, because the more you score the more you can press.”
Monmouth got off to a good start against Old Orchard, holding the Seagulls without a field goal until into the second quarter while building a 12-4 lead. The Mustangs then outscored the lower seed by a 38-11 score in the second half to pull away.
Abbey Allen led Monmouth with 17 points, while Hannah Anderson added 11. Emily Greenlee scored nine to lead OOB.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @TLazarczylMTM
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