Sports Insider by Frank Coppola: York girls advance to regional semifinals

February 19, 2008

York girls advance to regional semifinals

PORTLAND, Maine — Rick Clark didn’t like everything he saw during Tuesday night’s Western Maine Class B girls basketball tournament game, but he liked what he saw at the end.

Clark watched his fourth-seeded York High School team outscore fifth-seeded Fryeburg Academy by 10 points in the final quarter as the Wildcats extended their season with a 57-45 victory at the Portland Expo.

York trailed 43-41 with less than five minutes to play, but closed the game with a 16-2 run. The Wildcats made 10 of their 11 free-throw attempts in the final eight minutes.

“We got impatient at times and that got me a little nervous, but the last four minutes we controlled the pace,” Clark said.

Freshman forward Stephanie Gallagher and junior guard Laney Yeomelakis each tossed in a team-high 16 points for York, which also received a 13-point effort from freshman center Niki Taylor.

“At first I was nervous, but I knew my teammates were there and they gave me confidence,” Gallagher said. “That calmed me down and I kept my composure.”

Fryeburg, which led 27-24 at halftime, received a game-high 28 points from guard Coreen Hennessy. The Raiders turned the ball over eight times in the fourth quarter and 29 times in the game.

“They did a good job pressing us,” Fryeburg coach Michael Hart said. “I think we had a great individual effort from Hennessy, but we turned the ball over too much. York did a great job with the press and made their free throws. That was the difference.”

The Wildcats raised their record to 16-3 and will play No. 1 Lake Region (17-2) in the regional semifinals on Thursday (7 p.m.). Fryeburg completed its season with a 13-6 record.

“We felt like if we could put enough pressure on people other than Hennessy we could keep her in check and we could play our pace,” Clark said.

Portsmouth Herald correspondent Dan Doyon contributed to this report.

Posted by Frank Coppola at February 19, 2008 11:45 PM

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