Oceanside at the Buzzer

The girls side of Medomak Valley/Oceanside rivalry has been unbalanced for...a while. Even before the Bailey Breen run, Oceanside has had the better of the matchup, winning the previous 15 games in the series (per Don Shields). The Panthers had gotten close several times, including the game late this year in Rockland when they squandered a late lead.

Early in yesterday's semifinal game, it looked like Oceanside would coast to their 16th straight, building a 17-6 lead capped with an Aubri Hoose three. The Panthers responded with a 13-0 run, fueled largely by Claudia Feely and a couple of threes from Audrey Jackson.

The teams went back and forth in the third quarter, then Medomak built the lead out to 11 at 44-36. But you knew Oceanside wouldn't go quietly. They chipped away at the lead, but after Renee Ripley fouled out and Medomak still led by 8 with under 2 minutes to go, the door seemed to be closing on Oceanside's season.

But then Abby Stackpole found just enough room for a three to cut it to 5. Medomak turned it over and Stackpole hit another 3 to cut it to 1. Medomak freshman Sienna Lee answered off an assist from Kytana Williamson, giving Oceanside one last chance.

Let's go to the tape.

Oceanside would win it in overtime.

For a Medomak program that's only been to 1 Regional Final, this is as gut-wrenching a loss as you'll see.

Stackpole finished with 18 (she was 4/9 from 3), as did Aubri Hoose. Audrey Jackson had 13 & 8 for the Panthers.

Oceanside will continue their title defense against Biddeford, who built an 18-point lead in the first half against Spruce Mountain and clamped down on defense, holding the Phoenix to 15% from deep. The very young Tigers will go for their first-ever Regional Title on Friday and based on what they've shown this week, it could be the first of several.

The Winthrop faithful had to feel pretty confident going into their quarterfinal matchup with Buckfield. They'd won 12 of their last 13 to end the regular season, including wins over Maranacook and Hall-Dale. They were Jay Baines' Cinderella pick to win the region and the Model had them as a 5-point favorite, which is on the high side for a 4/5 game. So imagine the surprise of the fan who got to the Augusta Civic Center late to find their team down 17-2. Not great!

Somehow, the Ramblers found some magic in that school bus. A 9-0 run got them back in the game, but at the half, they still trailed by 10. Then Sarae Devoe's 3 put them behind by 13 and it must have felt bleak. So what did they do? The closed the game on a 23-2 run to stun Buckfield. They held them without a made basket for the final 15 and a half minutes of the game, because when the 8th best scoring defense in the state locks in, they LOCK IN.

They face Hall-Dale in the semifinals. The Bulldogs held off a pesky, 9th seeded Poland team behind 20 points and 9 rebounds from Torie Tibbetts and 17 from Jade Graham. Poland got 19 from Charlotte Grenier in the loss.

Over on the other side of the bracket, Madison easily handled Monmouth behind 24 points from Mackenzie Robbins. They face a 10th seeded Dirigo team that no one picked to be the Cinderella in C South, but here we are. They won in convincing fashion over Carrabec, 43-26. Abigail Luczynski led the way with 18.

Let's take a look at the updated Gold Ball Odds.

I don't know if I've ever seen a 10 seed at 11% to win the region after the quarterfinals.

Last year in Bangor, one of the stories of the tourney was the Mount View boys and their run from the 7 seed. Well, for a while yesterday, it looked like the Mount View boys and girls might both blow up their brackets.

The girls led by 8 with 4 minutes left before Calais erupted with a 17-3 run to stun the Mustangs. Kayleigh Scott scored 9 of her 14 points over that stretch to snatch victory. Calais will play Penobscot Valley next after they obliterated Central.

The Mount View boys raced out to a 12-2 over Mattanawcook, but a 10-point lead is not safe against the highest-scoring team in the state, even if it did take them until 5:00 left in the third quarter to even the score on True Weatherbee 3-point play and the Lynx pulled away down the stretch to send the Mustangs back to Thorndike. Kooper McCarthy led the way with 17.

They'll face Fort Kent in the semifinals who beat Hodgdon behind 31 points and 9 rebounds from Aiden Jeffers

And that brings us back to the Expo after a long enough break to actually go get food.

There are 7 unbeaten teams left across the state and if I was a lot less tired, I'd try and figure out just how frequently 18-0 teams win a Gold Ball, but what I can tell you with absolute certainty is that at least one of them won't because, as I'm sure you know, York and Medomak Valley are in the same region.

The other 5 are: Mattanawcook boys, Valley boys, Lawrence girls, Penobscot Valley girls, and Valley girls.

The York/Spruce semifinal was up first.

The Wildcats opened up an early 6-point lead, but Spruce answered with an 8-2 run ending in a Hunter Buote 3 at the buzzer to tie it after 1.

The second quarter was the Reece MacDonald and Lukas Bouchard show, as they accounted for all 16 of York's points. Bouchard's size, especially, gave Spruce trouble in the post. Add to that Spruce going ice cold from the floor in the quarter (18%) and York went into the half with a 7-point lead.

And the game more or less stayed in the 5-11 point range the rest of the way. There was a bit of controversy in the second half where the officials gave what everyone assumed was a Lukas Bouchard foul to Reece MacDonald. The table checked with the official and he clarified that MacDonald hacked Cai Dougher's arm prior to Bouchard bodying him, but when Bouchard then picked up his 4th foul, the entire Spruce bench assumed he had fouled out. He had not.

I'm not saying the call was correct, but it was intentional.

Anyway, Spruce couldn't put together enough buckets to pull off the upset. York's defense held them to 29.1% from the floor to advance to the Regional Final. MacDonald had 24 to lead the way and Bouchard added 17 & 12.

In the nightcap, Medomak Valley faced a Lincoln Academy team still without their 3rd leading scorer, Terry Welle (ankle). Led by the Hunt twins, the Eagles have really found an identity this year as the sort of pesky, scrappy team you don't want to play. They fly around and create havoc and when they're clicking, they're dangerous. So when they took a 10-9 lead on an EJ Hunt 3, there were murmurs in the Medomak section.

And then Medomak's defense locked in, holding the Eagles scoreless for over 8 minutes before Roan Donaghy hit a corner 3.

Much like the York game, the second half stayed in the 7 to 15 range as Lincoln Academy just wouldn't go away.

You might even say they had alligator blood. Only, they didn't find Medomak's tell. So maybe it's not a great reference to use.

In the end, Medomak took care of business, including this punctuation mark that I want to point out didn't draw a dunk technical. Credit where credit is due.

Lash finished with 17. Rocco DePatsy had a huge game down low with 18 & 7. Drew Hunt led Lincoln Academy with 16.

And now we've got 2 20-0 teams in a Regional Final. Should be fun!

The AA playoffs are back on after their hiatus.

Today the girls are at the hockey rink.

Edward Little has the best scoring defense in AA North at 36.4 points a game. They'll take on a Cheverus team that leads AA in scoring offense at 55.3 points a game. Offense vs. Defense. You know the drill.

The Model's picks for the rest of today's games are after the jump.