PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — It was a game befitting of overtime, but apparently four quarters were enough for the Presque Isle girls basketball squad.
With 6.3 seconds to play and the game tied at 34-34, Presque Isle junior guard Faith Sjoberg took an inbounds pass from teammate, Anna Jandreau, dribbled the length of the court and banked in an off-balance 8-foot jump shot as time expired.
That shot gave Presque Isle a 36-34 victory over Houlton for the Aroostook County Division I girls basketball championship Monday evening at Presque Isle High School.
“Coach wanted me to curl around and get the ball and then try to make something happen,” Sjoberg said. “It looked pretty wide open so my first thought was to get to the basket and if they guarded me, I’d kick it out. But I had some room and took it myself and I was relieved to see the ball go through the net.”
The Wildcats now face Southern Aroostook, the Div. II County champ, in the Aroostook County finals 6 p.m. Wednesday at Presque Isle High School.
PI coach Jeff Hudson praised Sjoberg for both the last-second heroics and the all-around showing.
“Faith was Faith,” he said. “I think she is the best player in the County and one of the best in the state. Houlton was in her face the whole game, but she still made some big baskets, none bigger than that last one.”
Sjoberg finished with 15 points, including a 4-for-4 effort from the foul line, for the 14-0 Wildcats.
Casavant had eight and Kinney added five points and eight rebounds. Presque Isle hit all eight of its foul shots in the game.
Mia Henderson tallied 11 points for the Shires, including three 3s. Ardell closed out her career with 10 points to go along with a solid defensive outing. Houlton, which went 4 of 5 from the foul line, concluded the season with a 9-6 record.
Houlton’s Olivia Henderson (left) dribbles around Presque Isle defender Anna Jandreau during Monday night’s Division I girls championship game. Presque Isle won 36-34. (Photo courtesy of Terry Sandusky)
It was the Wildcats’ fourth victory over the Shiretowners this season in a scheduling anomaly due to the COVID-19 pandemic that forced the regionalization of games as opposed to the Big East Conference slate both teams would normally face.
“It’s tough to beat a good team three times, so to beat them four times was even tougher,” Hudson said. “Houlton knew everything we were doing, played physical, and then took away what we wanted to do. Coach [Shawn] Graham did a great job having his team ready and his kids executed, especially on defense.”
“We put ourselves in a position to win, which is all I can ask for, but unfortunately had a few shots in the late third and fourth qtrs that just didn’t fall,” coach Graham said. “A bit unlucky I’d say. Defensively I was extremely proud of our girls. I thought we left it all on the floor. We matched their intensity, rebounded pretty well for an undersized team, and made it very difficult for them to score.”
Coach Graham added after giving up an average of 55 points per game to the Wildcats in previous meetings, including 23 3-pointers, he was very pleased to hold Presque Isle to just two buckets beyond the 3-point arc.
Presque Isle broke out to an early 8-0 lead behind six points from Sjoberg, but the Shires showed plenty of fight and got right back in the game thanks to a layup by Emma Ardell sandwiched by a pair of 3-pointers from Mia Henderson to trail 11-8 early in the second quarter.
The game remained close and Houlton grabbed its first lead (22-21) midway through the third period on a 10-footer from the baseline by Mia Henderson. The margin grew to 29-24 in favor of the guests thanks to buckets by sophomores Emma Swallow and Drew Warman to end the fourth, but the Wildcats ramped up their defense and senior Meg Casavant came through with a pair of conventional 3-point plays to allow her team to regain the lead.
Jandreau hit a short jumper and Sjoberg nailed a pair of free throws to make it 34-29, but Ardell converted a nice feed from Warman with less than a minute to play. After a PI turnover, Olivia Henderson got open for a 3-point attempt with 10 seconds remaining, but Swallow raced in for the offensive rebound and was fouled on the putback. She made the foul shot to tie the game, setting up a time-out and the final possession capped by the game-winning play.
Lofting an off-balanced shot is Presque Isle’s Sadie LaPointe while guarded by Houlton’s Sam Johnson during Monday night’s girls Division I championship game in Presque Isle. (Photo courtesy of Terry Sandusky)
Graham said he felt if Houlton could control the tempo and be a bit more patient on offense, the Shires would be able to keep it a low scoring affair.
“Presque is an explosive 3-point shooting team and they can rack up points in a hurry as was evident in our previous three meetings,” he said. “By being more disciplined, we limited their touches and time of possession. That being said, they are still a very difficult team to score on due to our matchup problems.”
Playing to an empty gymnasium for most of the season was a bit surreal, the coach added.
“It can be really difficult to play with passion and motivation in an empty gym every night,” Graham said. “After all, it’s the fans that make for an exciting atmosphere and we have the best gym in the state to play in when it comes to our fan base. Hopefully we can all get back to some normalcy in the coming months and get ready for summer ball.”
Hudson added Monday’s championship game was exactly what he hoped it would be.
“It was everything a championship game should be,” Hudson said. “Both teams really battled hard and nothing was easy offensively for either team. Either team could have won, but I’m really proud of how our team came back in the fourth. We made some mistakes, but to be honest, we haven’t been in that situation many times this season so we were learning on the fly. No championship is easy and this was anything but easy.”
