Jul. 9—Madelynn Deprey still gets asked about the Class B championship girls basketball game. And she’s always happy to tell the tale.
“I’ve had so many people come up just to talk about the game with me,” she said. “I actually love it. I love when people come up and ask about it, and just want to talk about the game.”
And why wouldn’t she? It’s not often a player wins a state championship, let alone in the fashion that Deprey and the Caribou girls basketball team did — in overtime, with wild swings, last-second heroics and a finish that stunned every person in attendance.
Caribou’s 49-48 overtime victory over Biddeford in the Class B final earned distinction as the Varsity Maine Girls Game of the Year, and it’s an easy case to make. Once comfortably ahead, the Vikings saw their lead dwindle as the Tigers caught fire, then fell behind in overtime and appeared headed for defeat, only to twice dodge knockout blows and pull off an unforgettable victory with a steal and pair of free throws from freshman Quinn Corrigan in the final tick of the clock.
“Just an incredible game overall,” said Kayla Brown, who coached the Vikings. “There was a lot of drama, especially at the end, but if you look back at the entire game, it was just an incredible game, the whole thing.”
The start of the game gave no hints as to what was to come. Caribou dominated out of the gate, and got out to a 29-17 lead midway through the third quarter behind 15 points from Deprey, who finished with 29 and 16 rebounds.
Brown, however, didn’t think her team was looking at a runaway.
“No, never,” she said. “They were super tenacious on defense. I knew they would wear us down.”
Sure enough, Biddeford’s athletic, pressing defense began forcing Caribou mistakes, the Tigers’ shots started falling, and the game was on. Biddeford made three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter while Caribou committed eight turnovers, turning a 31-23 deficit into a 40-40 tie and overtime.
“Absolutely, I did get that feeling, like, ‘Holy crap, this is getting really close,'” Deprey said.
Then in overtime, Biddeford moved closer to checkmate. A pair of Gabby Silva free throws made it 48-45 with 22.6 seconds left, and Silva stole the ball on the next possession to return to the free throw line with 9.8 seconds to go.
Still, hope persisted.
“I never thought it was over,” Deprey said. “I just thought we were going to figure it out.”
Caribou stayed alive, however, when Silva missed both attempts, giving the Vikings a chance to tie. Biddeford fouled Deprey with 1.5 seconds left, and the plan was clear: Make the first free throw, miss the second and get the rebound.
Deprey made the first, aimed for the rim on the second … and could only watch as it, too, fell through the basket, making it 48-47 but giving the Tigers the ball back.
“In the (video) you can quite literally see my shoulders drop,” she said.
And then came the finish that left the onlookers searching for words to describe it. Biddeford needed only to inbound the ball to become state champions, and Ayla Lagasse saw Silva near the baseline — but not Corrigan lurking right behind. The freshman intercepted the pass, then had the presence of mind to put up a shot before time expired and draw a foul.
With 0.4 seconds left.
“Quinn’s play at the end of the game, that’s something that I think will go down in history,” Brown said. “That’s not something you can ever forget.”
Corrigan said she “was shaking the whole time” as she went to the line for the championship-deciding free throws. She made both, however, and Caribou had the lead — and after Biddeford’s own desperation attempt, a championship.
“I always joke with her parents,” Deprey said, “and thank them for having Quinn Corrigan as their kid.”
Even after the game, after the heartbreak, Biddeford coach Jeannine Paradis knew her team had performed well to turn what looked like certain defeat into a classic.
“We could do a lot of coulda-would-shoulda,” she said afterward. “… but at the end of the day, we’re down 10 with two-and-a-half minutes to play, and we clawed our way back. … I can’t complain about that.”
After the game, the Caribou team climbed into the bus on the way back to Bangor and re-watched the game, still in disbelief at what had occurred.
“I think about it at least three times a day,” Deprey said. “Our coaches would joke, we always found a way. No matter how we played, we just found a way to pull out the win. That game was just a prime example of that.”
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