The Maine South girls basketball team used a 13-0 run in the first quarter Tuesday to establish an early lead and the Hawks went on to earn a 60-22 win over Maine East in the semifinals of the Class 4A Resurrection Regional.
The Hawks, who are the fifth seed in the Glenbrook South Sectional, advanced to play Resurrection on Friday in the regional final. The fourth-seeded Bandits beat 13th-seeded Lane 49-23 in their opener.
This is the 10th time in 10 seasons that Maine South coach Mark Smith has taken a team to a regional final. The Hawks have won seven regional titles during his tenure. Maine South last won a regional championship in 2013.
“Maine East is a dangerous team with lightning-quick guards,” Smith said. “Our guards did a good job of preventing them from dribble penetrating. But there were a lot of holes in our defense.”
Maine South senior guard Nine Anderson scored a game-high 12 points. Junior guard Julia Sirvinskas added nine points. In all, 13 players scored for the Hawks (15-15).
For the third consecutive game, Maine South was without starting junior guard Sam Fagenholz, who’s been out with a twisted right ankle. Smith said she plans to practice on Wednesday in hopes of being ready for Friday’s game.
Senior guard Leslie Christiansen scored eight points for 12th-seeded Maine East (10-16). Sophomore guard Lauryn Alba Garner had seven points.
“We talked about slowing down the pace and being patient and particular on offense,” Maine East coach Karol Hanusiak said. “For the most part, on defense, we controlled their cuts, but we got annihilated on backdoors.
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“They are a very good basketball team, and we did the best we could.”
Twitter: @harnesspreps