Medomak Valley girls’ basketball defeated Caribou 52-30 in the East Class B Regional Quarter-finals in Bangor Feb. 18. The Lady Panthers advance to the semi-finals for the first time since 1987. They play number two ranked John Bapst in the East B semi-finals on Wed., Feb. 23 at 2:05 p.m.
Third seed Medomak made the trip to the Bangor Auditorium for the third straight year. They lost to Presque Isle in 2009 and Nokomis in 2010, but were focused on Friday.
“Our experience paid off,” Medomak coach Randy Hooper said. “Without question you could see it in their eyes during warm-up. Caribou was looking up in the stands and taking in the experience, and we were focused. We were there to get something accomplished. Our focus was to get back there (to Bangor) and win.”
The Lady Panthers limited Big East Conference leading scorer, Jenna Selander, to just 11 points with their trademark defense. “In the first half we played straight up man to man, and put Vanessa Davis on her,” Hooper said. Davis held Selander to just one basket from the floor in the half. “In the second half we played some junk defense,” including a diamond and one. “She was definitely the focus. It was a good defensive team effort,” Hooper added.
Caribou jumped out to a 6-3 lead on two 3-pointers from Alexa Massey and Jamie Martin, but they would not score again from behind the arch until the fourth quarter. Medomak settled down on defense and finished out the quarter with a 10-3 run to take a 13-9 lead at the quarter. “I thought we settled in pretty well,” Hooper said of the Panthers’ run.
Down 3-6 in the first, Alanna Vose stole the ball and scored and then converted at the foul line for a three-point play to tie the game. Dayna Michaud retook the lead for the Vikings, before Roxanne Jelenfy tied the game again. Selander settled one at the line to give Caribou their last lead of the ball game. Ericka Christensen scored two foul shots with 46 seconds to go in the period to give Medomak the lead for good. Jelenfy scored a foul shot and Christensen crashed the glass for two to put the Panthers up 13-9.
The Lady Panthers’ defense did not give up a basket from the floor in a six and a half minute stretch over two quarters. Medomak scored the first seven points of the second period to extend their scoring streak to 12 to take a 20-9 lead with 5:28 to go in the half. The Panthers dominated the boards in the second period for a 12-5 advantage (34-20 for the game)
Christensen crashed the glass again to kick off the second period, and Lindsay Ranquist went inside twice on feeds from Vanessa Davis and completed a three point play at the line to put Medomak up by 11. The Panthers led 24-14 at the half.
Christensen netted eight points in the third quarter to help the Panthers build a 16 point lead. Caribou cut the lead to 13 at the end of three, 36-23.
Selander scored off her own steal to kick off the fourth quarter and Katelyn Tardie hit a three to cut the lead to eight with 6:35 to go. Medomak answered the threat by scoring seven straight points and keeping Caribou scoreless for a three minute stretch. Christensen scored on a Vose feed and converted at the charity stripe for a three point play, and Kasey Benner converted off the glass and settled two foul shots in the rally.
Caribou tried to play the foul game, but it backfired, as the Lady Panthers sank seven of eight foul shots in a two minute period to build on their lead. Medomak sank 10 of 13 foul shots in the fourth quarter.
Medomak made 18 of 23 foul shots in the game, led by Conary (4 of 4), Vose (4 of 5) and Christensen (6 of 7). Caribou made three of five.
Scoring for Medomak were Christensen 18 (11R,3S,3B), Vose 10 (2R,2S,7A), Ranquist 9 (9R), Jelenfy 7 (4R), Benner 4 (3R,2S), and Mallory Conary 4 (2S). Vanessa Davis added 3 rebounds and 3 assists. Scoring for Caribou were Selander 11 (6R,3S), Massey 7 (4R), Michaud 4, Martin 3, Tardie 3 and Danielle Violette 2 (4R,2S).
