Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

By STEVE CRAIG, Staff Writer Tuesday, February 19, 2013

AUGUSTA — With its 12-point lead sliced to one, Old Orchard Beach needed something to silence Monmouth Academy´s comeback.

How about a 23-foot 3-pointer by senior center Christina Colman with just over a minute to play?

Colman´s shot knocked the Mustangs back, and third-seeded Old Orchard Beach escaped with a 63-57 win in a Western Class C quarterfinal Tuesday at the Augusta Civic Center.

"It was just kind of in the moment. I got a screen from my left and I just figured I´ll try to dribble out and it was just open," Colman said.

"I figured, you´re ahead by one or two points, it´s not going to hurt. We all kind of calmed down after that."

If some in the crowd thought Colman attempting such a tough shot was daring, Coach Dean Plante didn´t share that feeling.

"We took 978 shots in the 18 games this season and 400 of them were 3s," Plante said. "We shoot 3s. That´s what we do, and she´s hit a ton of those. For her to hit that? She´s supposed to, and she knows it and she did."

Colman finished with 23 points, including a 3-pointer in each quarter, to become the Seagulls´ first 20-point scorer of the season.

Old Orchard Beach (14-5) will face No. 2 Madison at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

No. 6 Monmouth (14-6) trailed 51-39 early in the fourth quarter before it went to a 1-2-2 three-quarter-court trap and created a slew of turnovers. The Mustangs cut the lead to 53-50 with 4:07 to play when Kylie Kemp (17 points) converted a three-point play on a fast-break layup.

Moments later, Sarah Spencer (11 points) made her third 3-pointer to get Monmouth within 54-53.

"We gave ourselves opportunities. We had a couple layups that we missed right down there at the end," Monmouth Coach Scott Wing said. "There was definitely no fault with the girls´ effort."

OOB sophomore Abby Dubois (12 points) took a long rebound in for a layup to boost the lead back to three before Spencer scored on a nice backdoor cut off a pass from Danielle Bumann.

Colman answered with her 3-pointer.

"That was a dagger, and that was a case of us subbing in offense and defense, and we got caught with the wrong girl guarding (Colman) who isn´t as comfortable closing out on her because she´s guarded post players all year," Wing said.

Monmouth didn´t have anyone who had played at the Civic Center, while OOB has 11 players from last year´s team that lost to Traip Academy in the quarterfinals. The Seagulls´ experience showed early, as they shot well, created turnovers and took the ball to the basket with authority.

"We just had confidence to come in and win, I guess," Dubois said. "We definitely wanted to get to the next round because this is the last year we have all together."

Colman´s first 3-pointer, a transition strike, gave OOB a 10-8 lead that was quickly stretched to 17-8.

Monmouth stayed in the game by making 22 of 29 free throws (Kemp was 11 of 15).

Old Orchard junior Julie Fregeau hit 3-pointers late in the first half and early in the third to help push the lead to double digits.

Staff Writer Steve Craig can be reached at 791-6413 or at:

scraig@mainetoday.com

Twitter: SteveCCraig