LEWISTON — Addie Brinkman knew she was getting the ball.
With the game on the line and with Mt. Blue’s hopes resting on a play with the junior’s name on it, Brinkman tried not to think about it.
“I knew I had to just get ready for the ball,” Brinkman said. “I knew my teammates would make a good pass. So I just got my hands ready to put it in.”
Trailing by one, the Cougars found Brinkman in the post Tuesday night — just as the play was designed. From there, she delivered Mt. Blue to its third straight victory.
“I was just in the game, going with the flow, ” Brinkman said. “It was just a natural little layup and in it went.”
Lewiston had a last-second look from the corner, but Laurianne Murphy’s shot hit the rim and then tantalizingly bounced off the backboard and out, giving Mt. Blue the 48-47 win.
“The girls’ battled and we didn’t give up,” Lewiston coach Mike Labonte said. “We keep harping that we think we’re a pretty good team. We just have to figure out how to play 32 minutes and how to close things out. It’s a process. Hopefully, it happens sometime soon.”
Lewiston had a 44-38 lead after free throws and a jumper from Jenessa Talarico with 4:32 left. Mt. Blue got two free throws from Brinkman. Then Miranda Nicely hit a 3 with 2:03 left to cut the lead to 44-43.
Lewiston came right back with a 3 from Kristina Blais, but another shot from long distance by Kiana Thompson made it 47-46 with 1:19 left.
“Miranda hit a three and then Kiana hit a 3 and that was an NBA 3,” Mt. Blue coach Tom Philbrick said. “They’re good shooters. The game’s over if we don’t hit those.”
In the final minute, both teams turned the ball over twice. Lewiston gave the Cougars the ball back with 24 seconds left on a travelling call.
“We had the opportunities to finish it up,” Labonte said. “You’ve got to give them credit. They played good defense. They got us hurrying a little more than we wanted to. They forced the turnovers in their favor.”
Mt. Blue called a timeout and set up the final play to Brinkman.
“We wanted Addie coming off that backscreen and we got it in to her,” Philbrick said. “It gave us an opportunity.”
She scored with about seven seconds left. After a timeout, Lewiston had the ball at midcourt with four seconds remaining. The Blue Devils got the ball inbounds to Morgan Eliasen, who found an open Murphy in the corner.
“We got the look we wanted,” Labonte said. “She got the shot off. We wanted her to get it in the corner. She had a pretty open look.”
Brinkman finished with 16 points and seven rebounds for the Cougars (5-4). Nicley added 14 while Thompson finished with eight. Lewiston (2-6) got 13 from Talarico and 12 each from Blais and Brie Wilson.
Lewiston built an 8-0 lead to start the game. Mt. Blue struggled from the beginning, turning the ball over four straight times and forcing Philbrick to take two timeouts in the first 90 seconds. The Cougars started to battled back and were within 14-12 after the first when Nicely hit a free throw and Caitlin Kane scored on a drive.
Mt. Blue opened a lead in the second. Brinkman had six points as the Cougars finished the half with a 7-1 run. Nicely added a 3 during that stretch to make it 27-19.
After Nicely scored on a rebound midway through the third, Mt. Blue was up 33-26. The Cougars went to the bench and subbed out most of the lineup and the Blue Devils gained the momentum. Lewiston used an 11-2 run to finish the quarter up 37-35. Wilson and Talarico each had four points during that run.
“I’ve got to take my hat off to them,” Philbrick said. “The girls were doing everything they could that we were doing in the first half. Lewiston just stepped up.”
A Talarico 3 put Lewiston up by four but a Brinkman basket answered that early in the fourth. Then came Talarico’s two free throws and a jumper 16 seconds apart to build the 44-38 lead.
“It was intense,” Brinkman said. “We had to work hard. We were working hard on defense. We just knew we had to get back and help each other through all of it. We had to work together, and we knew we could do it.”
kmills@sunjournal.com
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