BANGOR – Waterville’s Kylie Allen had earned the right, and she calmly tossed the ceremonial last shovelful of dirt on the Bangor girls Monday night, finally knocking the Rams back into the hole they’d dug for themselves 25 minutes earlier.

The heady senior put the finishing touches on her first-ever victory over Bangor, rattling in a pair of free throws with 4.2 seconds left to ice her team’s 48-44 schoolgirl basketball win at Red Barry Gym.

The win was big for the Purple Panthers, who improved to 7-8. They were ranked No. 8 in the latest Heal Point Standings, only seven points behind Bangor and two points ahead of No. 9 Medomak Valley of Waldoboro.

Bangor, which slipped to 9-5, never quite recovered from a costly first-quarter stumble.

“I think the key was early in the game we just – for whatever reason – didn’t play with great intensity in the first quarter,” Bangor coach Tom Tennett said.

“We picked it up in the second quarter, but we were never able to get out of the hole we put ourselves in in the first quarter.”

After Renee Richardson drilled a pair of free throws to pull the Rams within 41-40 with 4:50 to go, Bangor came up with two defensive stops, but a turnover and a missed shot on two possessions quelled the threat.

A baseline 14-footer by Katie Trinward and a layup by freshman Judy Griffin pushed the bulge back to five.

Only a clutch 3-pointer by Bangor’s Emily Morse, who hit the shot with a defender in her face with 18.1 seconds left, put the Rams back into contention.

After Trinward missed a pair of free throws with 15.1 seconds left, Bangor’s Richardson watched her runner from the lane fall off the rim into Allen’s hands.

Allen made the free throws to end the suspense.

After hopping out to an early 6-4 lead, the Rams made miscues that Tennett would remember later – they turned the ball over on six straight possessions against the Panthers’ man-to-man half-court run-and-jump in the opening period.

Meanwhile, the Panthers were playing patient ball and taking advantage of the Bangor miscues, setting the foundation for a lead that would peak at 22-10 with 6:29 to go in the half.

Allen said the key to the defense was the return of perimeter defender Kate Bolduc, who missed an early-season loss to the Rams.

“With Kate Bolduc coming back, that really gives us confidence up on the top,” Allen said. “It really enables us to rattle their guards. We knew that’s what we had to do.”

“We wanted to put pressure on them, make them work, maybe bottle them up a little bit, but really make it hard for them to get into their offense,” Waterville coach David Lee said.

From that point, the bigger Rams began to take the ball inside in earnest, but were never able to take a lead.

They cut the deficit to two after three periods and had opportunities to lead, but came up empty each time.

Key to the Bangor comeback bid was the play of 6-foot-2 junior center Jennifer Harriman (19 points, seven rebounds) and 6-0 senior forward Jen Sarjeant (eight points, eight boards).

Both came out more aggressive in the second half, and helped establish an inside presence that led to a 24-14 rebounding edge for the Rams.

But Waterville freshman Judy Griffin, who is listed at 5-10 but admits she’s shorter, tossed in 16 points and battled hard against the bigger Rams.

Only her efforts and the sagging defense of her teammates kept Harriman from doing more damage.

“I knew I had to front her because she’s so much taller than me,” Griffin said.

Allen scored six points and had five rebounds for Waterville and ran an offense that turned the ball over only eight times all night. Bangor finished with 17 turnovers.

Panthers 48, Rams 44

Waterville (7-8) Bangor (9-5)

Name G AG F AF TP Name G AG F AF TP

Browne 1 2 0 0 3 Dionne 0 2 0 4 0

Trinward 2 8 0 2 4 Morse 5 9 0 0 11

Allen 1 5 4 6 6 Wright 0 0 0 0 0

Bolduc 3 5 1 2 7 Sarjeant 4 8 0 0 8

Griffin 7 11 2 3 16 Hutchinson 1 3 0 0 2

Madore 2 5 2 2 6 Stevens 1 1 0 0 2

Corwin 3 8 0 0 6 Richardson 0 2 2 2 2

Harriman 7 11 5 8 19

Totals 19 44 9 15 48 Totals 18 36 7 14 44

Waterville 18 27 36 48

Bangor 8 22 34 44

3-pt. goals: Waterville (1-5): Browne 1-2, Allen 0-2, Trinward 0-1; Bangor (1-3): Dionne 0-1, Morse 1-2

Attendance: 250