Bangor, ME---- The Central Red Devils girls basketball team went over what defense they were going to play just two hours before their Eastern Maine championship game against the Stearns Minutemen.
That is plenty of time when you have Max McHugh on your team. Central coach Diane Rollins had McHugh guarding the explosive Sigi Koizar. She limited Koizar to 10 field goal attempts in the Red Devils 42-41 overtime victory over the Minutemen.
"I was thinking I would just throw this at them and see if we could do it. It was 5 o'clock. We worked through it for a half hour," Rollins said. "The low, the help, do this and do that. Tonight we went through how we were going to defend Sigi (Koizar). That is it. Max (McHugh) has so much focus in big games. She is a great defender. She can just step up in big situations like this."
McHugh added, "My focus was to stop her, it worked."
A freshman stepped up for Central on the offensive side of things. Brianna Skolfied scored a game high 21 points on 9-15 shooting from the field. Skolfield also pulled down 11 rebounds.
"We knew coming into this game that they (Stearns) didn't have a lot of post play," McHugh said. "That was one of our main focuses was to give it to her. She (Skolfield) executed very well. It was great."
Skolfield added, " What we tried to do is get it in to me a lot because the height difference."
Skolfield struggled in the first two tourney games. Rollins had the confidence that Skolfield would come through and that is exactly what she did.
"Brianna (Skolfield) was kind of disappointed after the first couple of games," Rollins said. "I told her that it would come to her. Tonight was the night that it came to her. She did a great job."
McHugh, Sam Brownell and Brianna Speed are among the players on the Red Devils roster that won a state championship for the Red Devils girls soccer team this past November.
Brownell was a goalie on that team. She scored the game winning goal on a penalty kick in the Eastern Maine final. In this Eastern Maine final she sank four big free throws in overtime. The soccer championship felt so good they wanted to share that feeling with the rest of the roster.
"We knew how it felt already," Brownell said. "We wanted our other teammates that have not felt that to feel it to because it feels awesome."
McHugh added, "The ones that were not part of that championship, wanted it more. The ones that were part of that championship knew what it felt like. It helped our team."
McHugh is normally one of the top scorers for the Red Devils. On this night, scoring was not the first thing on her mind. She was the most valuable Red Devil despite only putting in two points.
"It tired out my legs out a ton so I did not drive to the basket as much," McHugh said. "It worked, we won the game."
Despite coming into the tournament with a 15-3 record, the Red Devils feel like they did really come together as a team until their quarterfinal victory over Bucksport on Wednesday. They stepped up even more when they defeated previously undefeated Calais in a semi-final game on Friday evening.
"I waited all season to see if they would keep progressing and they did. They were not doing leaps and bounds like I would of wished," Rollins said. "When they stepped in here on Wednesday morning I saw growth than I saw big growth last night."
McHugh added, "I think coming into this tournament, we really came together as a team. We realized we are capable of winning the big game."
Brownell recorded 11 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Red Devils. McHugh pulled down six rebounds and had two assists. Speed and Kaylee Harvey each had two assists. Central (18-3) will take on Hall Dale in the class C state championship game at 7 PM on Saturday, March 3rd.
Koizar led the Minutemen with 20 points including a deep three pointer late in regulation that sent the game to overtime. She shot 6-10 from the field including 3-4 from three point range.Koizar went 5-6 from the free throw line and pulled down six rebounds.
Emily Wark recorded eight points, four rebounds and three steals for the Minutemen. Ashley Rollins finished with six points, six rebounds and two steals. Stearns finished the season with a 18-3 record.
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