#Tourney17: Lincoln fends off pesky Poland in B South semifinals

Poland’s Nathalie Theriault sneaks through the Lincoln Academy defense and drives to the basket for during Thursday’s playoff game in Portland. The basket was good, but Poland was knocked out of the tournament as Lincoln Academy overpowered them.

PORTLAND — Poland kept bouncing back but couldn’t catch Lincoln Academy, which held on to beat the Knights 62-52 in a Class B South girls’ basketball semifinal at Cross Insurance Arena on Thursday.

“I think that’s a testament to our toughness, our mental toughness, and the girls really just believing in each other,” Poland coach Mike Susi said.

“We talked about tonight that basketball is a game of runs, and when you get down, you got to make your tun back. I think we always had a run back, but when you get in those situations when you’re down 14 points in the tournament, you have to expend a lot of energy to get back.”

The Knights fell deep into foul trouble in the first half, which helped the Eagles take over with a 24-3 run that turned a 11-4 Poland lead into a 28-14 Lincoln advantage.

Lincoln coach Kevin Feltis called a timeout when the Eagles were down by seven.

“We were playing nervous,” Feltis said.

Poland point guard Nathalie Theriault picked up her second foul when it was 11-8. She re-entered the game, but quickly picked up foul No. 3 early in the second quarter. When she checked back in, the Knights were down 14.

Theriault led a noble charge at the beginning of the game, making a steal after the tip and driving for an and-one, then adding a jumper to make it 5-0. A 3-pointer by Theriault made it 8-4, and another one by Sarah Moody gave Poland its 11-4 lead.

The Knights’ physical play started to catch up to them, and Theriault and others were forced to the bench.

“We had a great start to the game, can’t ask for anything better,” Susi said. We didn’t adjust to officiating fast enough, I think, and that put us in a hole.

“Obviously, it’s a much different game if we don’t lose three starters to foul trouble,” Susi added. “That’s on us; we didn’t adjust. Every single one of those were earned. There was not a single call that I would look back on and say that wasn’t justified. We’ve got to play smarter in those situations.”

Poland regained its bearing over the final three minutes of the first half, and had the deficit down to nine points, 32-23, until Lincoln’s Eleanor Mathews hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to make it 35-23 at half.

The Knights kept coming after the break, and got within six or seven points several times, but the Eagles always responded to get the lead back up to nine, 10 or 11 points.

“Ultimately, I think if you would have told me coming into today we would have scored 52 points and lost, I would have told you you’re crazy, because that’s a lot of points for us. Usually that means we’re playing pretty good basketball,” Susi said. “Just, every time we made a run, they had an answer tonight.”

Lincoln’s Bri Wajer was involved in most of those answers, either draining an off-balance jumper or drawing the defense and then dishing the ball to an open teammate. Wajer finished with a game-high 24 points — among them was her 1,000th career point — to go along with five assists and six rebounds.

“I thought we played her as best as we humanly could,” Susi said. “She did not get an easy basket all night. She was making tough shots, fadeaways. Credit to her for being a really great player.”

The Eagles advance to face Gray-New Gloucester in the regional Saturday at 1 p.m. at Cross Insurance Arena.

Lincoln might be shorthanded in that game. Starter Dorothy Hodous suffered an injury on the first play of Thursday’s game and key reserve Kaitlyn Feltis went down late in the first quarter.

Theriault led Poland with 18 points, seven assists and seven rebounds. Moody made four 3-pointers and finished with 13 points.

Poland’s Morgan Brousseau tries to drive to the basket, but is blocked by Lincoln Academy’s Brianna Genthner during Thursday’s playoff game in Portland.