Page 5 - Newsletter_Summer_2018

LADY SHIRES WIN

4TH STRAIGHT REGIONAL BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
2 In Class B and 2 In Class C
This story is based on articles by Larry Mahoney, Bangor Daily News and Joe Cyr ‘89, Houlton Pioneer Times.
The contents are reprinted with permission

Houlton High School senior guard Kolleen Bouchard spent time last summer working on a step-back move with her older
brother Kyle ‘15, who plays at Bentley University in Massachusetts, where she will join him this fall.

It came in handy Saturday night (February 24th ).

The Miss Maine Basketball winner used the move to nail a game-tying 3-pointer from the left side with 24.1 seconds
remaining in regulation and her free throw with 2:18 left in overtime broke a 30-30 tie, enabling the top-seeded Shires to
survive a stiff test from the youthful Dexter Tigers 33-30 in their Class C North championship game Saturday night at the
Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.

The 21-0 Shires, the Class B North champ a year ago, would play defending Class C state champ Monmouth Academy (20-1)
in a March 3rd state championship game at the Augusta Civic Center. It was Houlton’s fourth straight state game appearance,
two in Class B and two in C.

Bouchard carried her team to the regional title. While her teammates shot just 2-for-17 from the floor, Bouchard went 9-for-
18 and finished with a game-high 27 points and eclipsed the 2,000-point mark for her career. She is now the school’s all-time
leading scorer. Bouchard picked up assists on the other two baskets by Teagan Ewings and Kristen Graham. Abbie Worthley
added a pair of free throws. Bouchard’s 3-pointer came after Dexter had missed a shot that would have expanded its lead to
five.

“I worked on that shot all summer with my brother so it was pretty special I could make it,” said Bouchard, who also had five
steals, four rebounds and two blocked shots.

“I drive a lot so every once in a while, at the end of the game when you’re still down by three, you need a move like that. So, I
was able to bring it out,” Bouchard added.

“That was a good shot,” said standout Dexter freshman guard Peyton Grant, who poured in a team-high 22 points.

“That was a game-changer,” Houlton coach Shawn Graham said. “Not only did it tie the game, it gave us some
confidence and momentum.”

Both teams had a chance to win it in regulation but didn’t convert. Grant and Bouchard swapped baskets to open the overtime,
and Bouchard made one of two free throws to snap the 30-30 tie. Dexter missed a shot but the hustling Avery Herrick, another
freshman, chased the ball down and flipped it to a teammate as she was running out of bounds.

The Tigers had a chance to tie it or go-ahead but missed the front end of a one-and-one with 39.9 seconds left and
Bouchard grabbed the rebound. Bouchard eventually fed a wide-open Ewings in the paint, and she laid it in just before the
final whistle to sew it up.

“We definitely had our chances. We should have pulled it off. But things happen. It is what it is,” said Grant, who rallied her
team from an eight-point deficit by scoring six points during an 8-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters.

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