March 28, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Orono edges Bapst Gardner’s FTs spark Riots

ORONO – Orono High School freshman forward Susan Gardner had missed the front end of a one-and-one with 39 seconds remaining in the second overtime.

But she got another chance 24 seconds later and capitalized by draining both free throws to give her Riots a gritty, hard-fought 50-48 win over John Bapst in a defensive struggle at the Orono High gym on Tuesday evening.

“I just tried to concentrate a little bit more,” said Gardner, who was nursing a banged-up knee when she stepped to the foul line. On the play that resulted in the foul, she fell to the court after losing control of the ball at midcourt.

“She just needed a little pain to take her mind off the free throw,” quipped Steve Gardner, Susan’s father and the Orono High coach.

“I tried to put the pain out of my mind,” said Susan.

Gardner, according to her dad, is the team’s best free throw shooter as she is shooting over 70 percent from the free throw line.

Susan Gardner said she was the beneficiary of a fortunate call after she had lost control of the ball.

“I didn’t think it was a foul (on John Bapst freshman Andrea Pardilla),” said Gardner. “I guess the referee must not have had a good angle on the play.”

John Bapst missed a last-ditch attempt to tie it as Pardilla’s shot glanced off the rim.

The Riots seemed to be in good position to sew up the win in the second overtime as Jen Freese’s driving layup and Amy Taylor’s put-back of her own miss staked them to a 48-44 lead.

But John Bapst senior guard Rena Lolar hit a driving layup with 1:10 left and another with 24 seconds remaining to tie it.

Each team had scored only once in the first overtime as Taylor’s six-footer from the base line off Freese’s inbounds pass answered a Jen Collenburg four-footer off a Pardilla pass.

Orono’s Kelli Locke forced the overtime when she nailed her only field goal attempt of the game, a 12-footer from near the base line with 25 seconds remaining.

“I’ve been injured so all I’ve been doing is shooting in practice,” said Locke, who has been bothered by a knee injury. “I was on the base line and I’ve done pretty well shooting from the base line in practice so I decided to take the shot.”

Both teams were tentative offensively throughout the game, passing up open 10-12 foot jump shots to try to get a higher-percentage shot.

After a 9-2 Orono spurt erased Bapst’s 8-2 lead to open the game, the teams were never separated by more than three points until John Bapst rattled off 10 straight points in the fourth quarter, including four apiece by Pardilla and Lolar, to take a 40-33 lead with four minutes left.

But Orono scored the next seven points as Gardner hit a 10-foot jumper and two free throws, Freese sank a free throw and Taylor knocked home the rebound of Freese’s missed second free throw attempt.

Shannon Webster fed Becky Goggins for a six-footer from the paint with 1:10 left for John Bapst before Locke tied it.

Taylor’s 18 points, Freese’s 12 and Gardner’s 11 paced 6-2 Orono. Taylor also grabbed five rebounds.

Lolar’s 14 points; Goggins’ 12 points and game-high nine rebounds and Pardilla’s 10 points and five rebounds led 2-4 John Bapst, who outrebounded Orono 29-17.

Riots 50, Crusaders 48 (2 OT)

John Bapst Orono

Name G AG F AF TP Name G AG F AF TP

Collenburg 3 6 0 0 6 Freese 6 8 2 4 14

Lolar 7 11 0 0 14 Cota 0 1 0 0 0

Pardilla 5 12 0 0 10 Taylor 8 16 2 5 18

Webster 2 8 0 2 4 Dekanich 2 4 0 0 4

B. Goggins 6 14 0 0 12 Gardner 3 8 4 7 11

McCabe 0 1 0 2 0 Locke 1 1 0 0 2

M. Goggins 1 4 0 0 2 Hamilton 0 0 1 2 1

Berry 0 0 0 0 0 Upham 0 0 0 0 0

Moore 0 0 0 0 0

Gagnon 0 2 0 0 0

Totals 24 56 0 4 48 Totals 20 40 9 18 50

John Bapst 10 22 30 42 44 48

Orono 7 21 31 42 44 50

3-pt. goals: John Bapst 0-3: Lolar 0-2, Collenburg 0-1; Orono 1-2: Gardner 1-1, Taylor 0-1

Preliminary: JV: John Bapst 33, Orono 16


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