Sports Editor
BANGOR — Wins are not always pretty, but at the end of the day, they count just the same.
Staff photo/Joseph Cyr
Fort Fairfield’s Courtney Churchill signals the play to her teammates during her team’s 49-30 quarterfinal win over Shead Monday.
No. 2 Fort Fairfield (18-1 overall) overcame early-game struggles to notch a 49-30 victory over No. 7 Shead (11-8) Monday afternoon at the Bangor Auditorium. The Tigers advance to Thursday’s semifinal contest against No. 3 Southern Aroostook (16-2) at 7:05 p.m. Southern Aroostook advanced to the semifinals with a 67-39 win over No. 6 Deer Isle-Stonington.
“There were no points for style that’s for sure,” said Fort Fairfield coach Larry Gardner following the game. “A lot of it depends on the team you are playing. We play ugly sometimes, but as long as you have the right number at the end, so be it.”
Sophomore Amanda Hotham and freshman Sydney Churchill led Fort Fairfield with 16 points apiece. Churchill connected on four 3-pointers in the game.
The Tigers held a significant size advantage over Shead and looked to work the ball into the post for much of the game. Fort Fairfield out rebounded Shead 29-16 on the day.
“We tried to force the ball a bit too much,” Gardner said. “We had a lot of lazy fouls. We were not as aggressive as I would have liked, and yet we had more fouls playing a zone than we do playing man-to-man.”
Churchill, coming off the bench, staked Fort Fairfield to a 10-3 first quarter lead with a 3-pointer and layup in the final minute of the period. Shead struggled in the first half with Fort Fairfield’s 2-3 and 1-3-1 zones, scoring just seven points.
Hotham had the hot hand in the second quarter, connecting on a pair of baseline buckets, and one of two free throws. Churchill chipped in a 3-pointer, while junior Brooke Beaulieu added a jumper.
Neither team could get much going in the third period, as Shead outscored the Tigers 6-4.
Fort Fairfield pulled away in the fourth quarter thanks to solid shooting from the foul line. The Tigers were nearly perfect from the stripe, sinking nine of 10 foul shots (90 percent) for the quarter. For the game, the Tigers were 11 of 15 from the line (73 percent), while Shead was five of 11 from the stripe (46 percent).
Coach Gardner said the Tigers will have a tough task stopping Southern Aroostook in the semifinals.
“I’d say they are probably the favorites to win it all,” he said. “I think they were favorites right from the preseason. They have depth and size and shooting. We can’t match up to them physically, but we’ll work hard and see what happens.”
