GUILFORD- The Piscataquis Community High School (PCHS) Pirates outscored George Stevens 24-10 in the final 12 minutes to earn a 45-41 victory over the Eagles in a class C girls basketball game on Saturday night.
The score was tied at eight after the first quarter. Morgan Dauk had four points and five rebounds for the Eagles in the first eight minutes of play.
The Eagles jumped out to a 15-10 lead early in the second quarter. After a Pirates timeout, they went on a 6-0 run to take a 16-15 lead. George Stevens outscored PCHS 11-3 to take a 26-19 advantage at halftime.
George Stevens built the lead to 31-21 around the midway mark of the third quarter. That is when Dauk picked up her fourth foul. With Dauk on the bench, the Pirates went on an 11-0 run to take a 32-31 at the end of the third quarter.
Alivia Hunt gave the Pirates a 34-31 lead early in the fourth quarter. Julianna Allen snapped the PCHS 13-0 run when she hit a jumper to make it 34-33.
Sara Almirante’s defense and Erin Speed’s shooting helped the Pirates secure the victory in the fourth quarter. Speed had nine points in the final eight minutes, while Almirante had three of her seven steals in the final quarter.
Speed finished with 23 points (5 three pointers) and six rebounds. Almirante filled up the stat sheet with 10 points, eight assists, and seven steals.
“Did she (Speed) have a nice night shooting or what?,”PCHS coach Brian Gaw said. “Those steals at the end were critical, they were deflating steals. She (Almirante) did a good job.”
Many of Almirante’s eight assists were to Speed. The junior guard (Speed) and the Sophomore foreign exchange student from Spain (Almirante) are building their chemistry and it has been showing in the Pirates current seven game winning streak.
“Our chemistry is getting there. I know once she (Almirante) goes in, I am ready for her kick out, because I never know what she is going to do,”Speed said, “I just shot and it went in. I just kept shooting.”
Dauk has been the top scorer in class C this season and Lexi Harris had the responsibility of slowing her down. Harris did an excellent job of staying on Dauk every second the Eagles had the ball. The defense by Harris helped hold Dauk to 16 points.
“I wanted to know what she (Dauk) had for lunch. Lexi (Harris) did all of that. She (Harris) is relentless, tenacious person and she did everything we asked her to do,”Gaw said. “The big thing was to make her (Dauk) earn every single basket.”
Hunt had 10 points, seven rebounds, and four steals for the Pirates. Harris put in two points and pulled down four rebounds. PCHS (9-2) now sits second in the Maine Principals’ Assocation class C North heal point standings. The Pirates will host Greenville on Friday night. Live Audio Coverage from Eastern Maine Sports will start at 5:20 PM.
Marie Smallidge scored eight points and pulled down five rebounds for the Eagles. Emma Crosby had seven first half points, Julianna Allen added six points and four assists. Mallory Charette and Dawn Hutchinson had two points each. Dauk pulled down a game high 12 rebounds. George Stevens (9-2) will try to snap a two game losing streak when they travel to Sumner on Friday. The Eagles are still at the top of the current class C north standings.
