Sports
Portland Knocks Off East Hampton in Shoreline Semifinals
Team defense leads third-quarter surge
Senior co-captains Kelly Coleman and Lindsey Dionne can now say that they have beaten every team in their conference. East Hampton had been the one team that always seemed to find a way to beat Portland, but on Tuesday night the string of consecutive losses to their neighbor to the east ended.
The Highlanders defeated the Bellringers in the Shoreline Conference semifinals 54-44 at Coginchaug High School in Durham.
East Hampton (17-5) came out of the gate with style, speed and execution that seemed to leave Portland a little wobbly for the first five minutes of the game, allowing the Bellringers to jump out to an early 8-4 lead.
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Kelsey Booth and Sarah Denihan kept East Hampton in front by combining for 11 of the team's 13 first-quarter points. Denihan hit two three pointers and Booth had an old fashioned three-point play and hit a soft fade-away jump shot from the right block.
Portland (19-3) recovered slightly by the end of the quarter as Coleman began to find her range from the free-throw line after not being able to hit from the floor until the 2:25 mark of the quarter. The quarter ended with East Hampton in front, 13-8.
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Both teams were connecting offensively. Portland took the lead by the 5:00 minute mark as Coleman and Alyssa Unikewicz each hit a couple of free throws and Lindsey Dionne slashed to the basket off a high screen from Coleman and converted the layup off an assist from Meaghan Rodgers.
Portland was up 16-13, but the momentum only lasted for about 10 seconds before Booth drained a three-pointer from the top of the key to tie the score. Vanessa Freeman added a three-pointer of her own to put the Lady Bellringers back up 19-16 and back and forth it went. As both teams slugged out the remaining minutes of the first half, the buzzer sounded with Portland in front, 25-24.
Portland, as they have so many times this year, came out of the locker room as if they had enough with how the game was going and took control immediately on both ends of the floor. Sarah Bierly got things started by converting on a low entry pass from Coleman 12 seconds into the quarter. Unikewicz unselfishly fed Dionne the ball after she stole it for another hoop and Rodgers worked a perfect give and go play with Dionne to score a layup and before you knew it Portland had a 31-24 lead.
Portland coach Nick Chaconis gives full credit to his team's defensive pressure.
"We know that our team defense will create offensive opportunities and we came out in the third quarter and put a lot of pressure on East Hampton to get the ball up  the floor," Chaconis said.
Rodgers continued the scoring run, connecting on a three pointer. After a Coleman steal, she then found Unikewicz open for a three that brought the well-represented Portland crowd to its feet. When the smoke cleared, Portland was on a 12-0 run to start the second half for a 37-24 lead.
East Hampton fought hard to stay in this game but when their shots stopped falling, they had difficulty shutting down Portland's offense, The Highlanders had 35 points between the second and third quarters.
"These games are always going to give you something to walk away with when you are playing against the best teams in your conference. Just to get to this game says something," East Hampton coach Shaun Russell said. "So, we'll get back in the gym now and prepare for the state tournament and let the team know that this is how we have to play in order to win in the state tournament.
"As they always do they left everything on the floor tonight."
At the end of the third quarter, Portland was up, 43-31.
"East Hampton gives us all that we can handle and we needed a spark so we pressed starting out in the second half, but we know it is going to be a gamble," Chaconis said.Â
"I thought the kids played with a lot of intelligence and did a very good job keeping their composure and I think the success we had last year helps out in a game like tonight."
Ashley Chasse got things going for East Hampton by knocking down a three-pointer, but it wasn't nearly enough to stem a potent Portland offense.
Portland will play Coginchaug on Friday at 7 p.m. in Durham for the Shoreline championship. Coginchaug defeated Cromwell 58-42 in the other semifinal.
For the Bellringers, they will await the annoucement for state tournament pairings.
East Hampton senior Vanessa Freeman is looking forward to the state tournament.
"As long as we improve on communication, our zone defense and execute better on offense by finishing, we should be OK," she said.
As for Katie Dash, "We [the seniors] have been playing since fifth grade together so we are hoping to play a lot more games together in the state tournament."