BANGOR – Her hand was hurting, she had only two points in the entire game, and she’d just seen her team almost get caught for having six girls on the court.

But rather than let it all get to her, Bangor guard Kori Dionne simply redoubled her efforts and made one of the plays of the game as her Bangor Rams neared the end of a harrowing 56-53 victory over previously unbeaten Gardiner at Red Barry Gym Friday night.

Just after the harried Rams hustled their extra player off the court and Gardiner inbounded the ball, Dionne flashed to the ballhandler, stole the ball, and drew a foul with nine seconds left.

Although she missed the 1-and-1, and teammate Anne Wright missed another one second later after rebounding Dionne’s miss and getting fouled, Dionne again shook it off and helped the Rams’ defense force another turnover.

The Rams then ran out the clock to stay undefeated at 7-0. Coupled with Brewer’s 58-56 upset of top-ranked Cony, the Bangor Rams may now find themselves at the top of the Heal Point standings in Class A Eastern Maine.

“This was just a huge win for us. I was real pleased,” said Bangor coach Tom Tennett. “It’s nice to have those 15-, 20-point wins, but it’s important to be in close games like this when you’re playing the good teams down the road.”

Things didn’t look too good for Conrad Lewis’ Gardiner girls at the half of Friday night’s game against Bangor. Bangor had reeled off eight unanswered points to ignite a 14-4 run.

But despite the Rams’ 35-25 halftime lead, Lewis’ Tigers managed to claw back into it, thanks to four 3-pointers in the third quarter.

Gardiner kept up the pressure in the final quarter as the Tigers turned a 49-43 lead with 35 seconds left in the third quarter into a 53-53 tie with 3:24 to play, thanks to Bangor turnovers, the Tigers’ seventh 3-pointer of the night, and better Gardiner shooting.

But then the Rams regrouped as Jlynn Frazier scored on a coast-to-coast fast-break layup and the Tigers started misfiring from the perimeter and fouling.

“They made a lot of threes, but at some point, if you’re relying on them, they’re going to come back to bite you,” said Tennett.

And they did as Gardiner was held scoreless in the game’s final three minutes, 23 seconds.

“We just didn’t run our offense correctly. We had people standing around, but I don’t think it was because we were tired,” said Lewis. “We may have been a little, since we weren’t able to rest the people we normally do because of our mismatch against them up front.”

The Rams pretty much dominated the inside scoring as center Kara Crockett finished with 21 points and forward Alison Smith added 19 and five assists.

Both players also starred on the other end as Crockett had nine rebounds, eight of which were defensive, and three blocks. Smith kept Gardiner sharpshooter Amy Stilphen (25 points, eight boards) in check down the stretch after she hit four of seven 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes of the game.

“Ali’s just had a great season,” Tennett said. “I don’t think she’s had really a bad quarter yet.”

Despite her hand, which she jammed with three minutes left, Dionne held leading scorer Lisa Brown to 13 points and six rebounds.

Rams 56, Tigers 53

Gardiner (6-1) Bangor (7-0)

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

Chandler 1 6 1 2 4 Dionne 1 4 0 1 2

Mathews 0 0 0 0 0 Strout 2 5 0 0 4

Hathaway 2 3 3 5 8 Miller 1 2 0 0 2

Stilphen 8 13 5 7 25 Frazier 1 3 2 4 4

Doty 0 2 0 2 0 Curtis 1 4 2 4 4

M.Folckemer 1 4 0 0 3 Wright 0 0 0 1 0

Brown 6 17 1 1 13 Smith 8 15 3 5 19

Callahan 0 0 0 2 0 Kenny 0 3 0 0 0

Crockett 9 12 3 5 21

Totals 18 45 10 19 53 Totals 23 48 10 20 56

Gardiner 11 25 45 53

Bangor 7 35 49 56

3-pt. goals: Gardiner (7-16): Stilphen 4-7, Hathaway 1-1, M. Folckemer 1-3, Chandler 1-4, Brown 0-1; Bangor (0-3): Dionne 0-1, Strout 0-1, Curtis 0-1

Attendance: 294

Preliminary: Bangor 47-39