PORTLAND — Too much height and too much tenacity from Lincoln Academy spelled a quick end to the 2017 Class B South basketball tournament for Mountain Valley.
The third-seeded Falcons stayed with the Eagles for most of the first half and into the second, climbing within a point in the third quarter. But Lincoln Academy had too much left in the tank to finish out the quarter — and the game.
Cagney O’Brien had one of her better games of the season, finishing with 27 points, and Gabrielle Wajer added 21 as the No. 6 Eagles toppled the Falcons 60-39 at the Portland Expo Building on Tuesday.
“It was definitely our defense,” O’Brien said. “Our defense is what we’ve been working on the most. We know we can score. Forcing them to turn the ball over is what we need to do on defense, and we did that. That caused us to get the lead and helped with the tempo of the game.”
Early on, it was Wajer giving Mountain Valley fits, scoring seven points in the opening frame to help Lincoln to an early advantage.
“We knew how to react to that,” O’Brien said.
That she and her teammates did. O’Brien quickly established herself, and was hard for the Falcons to contain.
In the third, after the Falcons clawed back to within one, O’Brien helped reestablish the Eagles’ advantage, scoring seven points in a 9-2 run. The Eagles’ height difference showed.
“We’ve dealt with that all year,” Mountain Valley coach Ryan Casey said. “We’ve tried our best to turn three of our guards into small forwards and big forwards. It’s paid dividends, and we’ve been able to press and trap throughout the season, but this team handled our trap pretty well, and they made us pay when we gambled. They really liked the tempo and they played well tonight. They’re a very good team”
Mountain Valley’s Emily Laubauskas led her team with 10 points. Abby Mazza added nine.
“The kids played with a ton of heart,” Casey said. “They gave it their best, they battled back in the third, but I think it was just a little too much of them.”
The opening quarter started quickly, with both teams looking to establish their own rhythm. The teams traded baskets — and the lead — through the first half of the frame, but the Eagles pulled away in the waning minutes, using a 9-2 run to establish a 13-8 advantage.
“Our speed really helped us on our layups, and we had a height advantage underneath,” O’Brien said.
Mountain Valley finally keyed in on Wajer, only to have the Eagles shift the offense into O’Brien’s hands. The senior captain struck for nine points in the second quarter as the Eagles built a nine-point lead late in the first half.
“We knew with our size, we weren’t going to be able to let them catch it deep in the post,” Casey said. “Cagney got the ball in a position where she could score. The game plan was not to let Wajer get into the paint, and sometimes game plans don’t work, sometimes they do.”
But the Falcons never went away. Two late-quarter 3-pointers — one each from Mazza and Allison — sandwiched a pair of free throws from O’Brien and pulled Mountain Valley within five at the break.
In the third, as quickly as the Falcons heated up to begin the quarter, so too did they cool off at the end.
After a pair of quick Lincoln Academy strikes, the Falcons went on a 7-0 run and got within one at 35-34, thanks in large part to tenacious offensive rebounding. At one point, Mountain Valley collected five in a row to maintain possession.
The Eagles righted the ship and went on their own tear in the latter stages of the third, closing the quarter on a 9-2 run.
With the win, the Eagles will square off against No. 7 Wells on Thursday at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland. The Knights toppled No. 2 Wells 37-30 Tuesday.
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