The Penobscot Valley girls of Howland are no strangers to making big plays in decisive moments. The Howlers won a Class C state championship last year, after all.
And now they’re heading back to the state finals, thanks in part to three timely shots right before the buzzer in Saturday’s Class D North regional final win over Machias.
The Howlers have dropped down a class, but they haven’t dropped their playmaking abilities.
Senior guard Rylee Moulton proved that with an exclamation point at the end of the first quarter by hitting a buzzer-beating 3-pointer as time expired.
Junior guard Brooklynn Raymond joined the party when she knocked down another 3-pointer for Penobscot Valley just before the buzzer sounded at halftime.
That shot from Raymond helped the Howlers take back some momentum heading into the second half after Machias had started chipping away at Penobscot Valley’s early lead.
And after the Bulldogs again looked poised to make a run in the third quarter, junior forward Abby Farley helped slam the door shut with a third buzzer-beating 3-pointer, this time as time expired in the third quarter.
“We made some big shots at the end of each quarter,” Penobscot Valley head coach Nate Case told WHOU after the win. “And I thought that was a testament to us and our execution and composure, and doing the right things the whole time.”
The Howlers went on to win comfortably by a score of 53-37. But if not for those well-timed triples at the buzzer, things could have gotten much closer in the Class D North title game.
“We know we want to get the last shot, and it just proves our execution on all of our stuff that we work hard to do,” Penobscot Valley senior Lila Cummings told WHOU after the victory.
Thanks to Saturday’s performance, Penobscot Valley is once again headed to the state finals. The Howlers will play against Mount Abram at 2:35 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28 at the Augusta Civic Center.
Video courtesy of WHOU.live, which provides live broadcast coverage of games and other community events for its subscribers. You can watch full games here.
