BREWER – Bangor center Kara Crockett and Brewer center Liz Boone are friends off the basketball court.

On the court, however, it’s a different story. With the bumping that goes on between the 5-foot-9 1/2 Boone and the 6-foot-1 Crockett, there’s no room for a smile and a handshake until the end of the game.

Tuesday night, Crockett won the struggle in the post, scoring 10 points and shutting down a solid first-half effort by Boone in the Rams’ 53-40 victory at the Brewer High gym.

“We get real intimidated of each other,” Crockett said. “She’s always my main focus during the game and I’m her’s. So we don’t say anything to each other. It gets kind of rough.”

Bangor improved to 2-0 and Brewer slipped to 0-2.

The win showed off the Rams’ other strengths besides their height. Sophomore guard Jlynn Frazier came off the bench in the first quarter and scored eight points, including two 3-pointers, en route to leading both squads with 14. Sophomore forward Alison Smith was especially good on short jumpers and driving to the basket and tallied 11 points.

Boone scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, but did most of that in the first half. Bangor coach Tom Tennett said he chose to start 5-foot-10 center Anne Wright instead of Crockett because he wanted to wear out Brewer’s center.

It worked. After Boone had a seven-point spurt in the opening five minutes, Crockett entered the game for Wright and the Brewer junior had just two more baskets in the game. And with four minutes left in the second quarter, Boone recorded her third foul and had to sit.

“We wanted to start Anne and get Liz to expend some energy,” Tennett said. “Then we would come in with Kara, a pair of fresh legs.”

Bangor had a 10-point cushion for most of the game until Brewer’s Kim Wheaton nailed two straight baskets and Alison Gray connected on a jumper to cut the lead to 31-25 at the start of the third quarter.

But Frazier hit her third 3-pointer and the Rams got two baskets from inside for a 13-point advantage and held off the Witches’ charge.

Brewer also got strong bench play in the form of sophomore guard Kim Wheaton, who scored 11 points.

The Witches also switched defenses, playing some man and a 2-3 zone. Brewer coach Lauree Gott said Tuesday’s game was their first experience with a zone defense this season.

“I thought we played hard and we played pretty good defense,” she said. “We had some defensive breakdowns that allowed them to get 3-pointers early in the game but we did well with the zone.”

Rams 53, Witches 40

Bangor (2-0) Brewer (0-2)

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

Dionne 2 4 0 0 4 Gray 2 6 0 0 4

Strout 0 1 0 0 0 Wing 2 11 3 4 7

Achorn 1 3 0 0 2 LaChance 1 6 0 0 2

Frazier 4 10 3 4 14 Peterson 1 1 0 0 2

Curtis 1 4 0 0 3 Strang 1 4 0 0 2

Wright 1 1 1 4 3 Garland 0 2 0 0 0

Smith 5 7 1 4 11 Boone 5 15 2 3 12

Kenny 1 4 4 4 6 Wheaton 5 12 1 2 11

Crockett 4 8 2 3 10

Warner 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 19 42 11 19 53 Totals 17 56 6 9 40

Bangor 20 31 43 53

Brewer 9 23 34 40

3-pt. goals: Bangor (4-9): Frazier 3-5, Curtis 1-3, Achorn 0-1; Brewer (0-4): Wing 0-3, Wheaton 0-1

Attendance: 197