Clark carries unbeaten Nokomis to 2nd victory over Bangor

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NEWPORT – Nokomis High School of Newport sophomore forward Danielle Clark said she and her teammates had something to prove Saturday afternoon.

Yes, they were 12-0. Yes, one of their victims was Bangor, 58-48 on Dec. 30 at Red Barry Gym in Bangor.

“But [Ram point guard] Jlynn Frazier didn’t play [due to a knee injury] so everybody used that as an excuse. They [Bangor players, coaches and fans] didn’t, but everybody else did,” said Clark. “So we wanted to show we could beat them with Jlynn Frazier.”

And that’s exactly what the Warriors did, parlaying the 6-foot Clark’s 23 points, seven rebounds and three steals; timely contributions from everybody else and exceptional team defense into a 50-42 victory.

Clark also held Ram second-leading scorer Terra Curtis (13.5 points per game) to just five points on 2-for-15 shooting from the floor, 1-for-9 from beyond the 3-point arc. All of Curtis’ points came in the first half.

“Defense and rebounding were the keys,” said Warrior sophomore guard Lindsey Welch, who had nine points, four assists, two rebounds and two steals and held Frazier to seven points in Nokomis’ predominantly man-to-man scheme.

The game certainly lived up to its billing as the two Eastern Maine Class A powers went toe-to-toe in an intense thriller until the Warriors outscored the Rams 9-3 over the game’s final five minutes to gradually pull away.

Bangor fell to 11-2.

Nokomis coach Earl Anderson had his Warriors go into its spread offense against Bangor’s man-to-man with 4:54 remaining and they protected the ball like it was a winning Tri-State Megabucks ticket. They turned it over just twice down the stretch and each player came up with either a clutch rebound, steal, block, assist, free throw or basket.

Two Clark free throws with 4:54 left extended the lead to 43-39 and she added another one after a Bangor miss with 3:15 remaining.

Frazier’s free throw, her only point of the second half, pulled Bangor within 44-40 with 2:42 left and the Warriors turned the ball over.

But Nokomis’ Sara Lowe made a steal and Welch was fouled with 1:36 left. Welch made both free throws to make it 46-40.

Twenty-one seconds later, Michelle Murray blocked Frazier’s 3-pointer and Clark was eventually fouled.

Clark missed the front end of her 1-and-1 but Murray tapped the rebound over to Lowe who hit the short jumper to sew up the win.

“I saw Michelle go up and tip it over to me. It was like it all happened in slow motion,” grinned Lowe.

Alision Smith was terrific for the Rams, pouring in 20 points, grabbing nine rebounds and handing out a pair of assists.

But her Ram teammates struggled, shooting just 10-for-32 from the floor including a 1-for-12 showing from 3-point land.

Nokomis’ balance was too much for the Rams.

“Tom [Bangor coach Tom Tennett] likes to use special defenses to shut down certain people but it’s hard to do that against us because we have four weapons,” said Nokomis coach Anderson.

Tennett said, “Nokomis played very well. They were strong defensively. We missed a lot of shots we should have made and had too many turnovers.”

Smith added, “We didn’t capitalize on what they gave us.”

In addition to Clark’s 23 points and Welch’s nine, Laura Pelkey contributed 11 points, two rebounds and two steals; Lowe had seven rebounds and two steals to go with her six points and Murray, though held pointless, handed out five assists.

Curtis hauled down six rebounds for the Rams and Katherine Miller had six points, all in the third period, and five rebounds.

Nokomis led by as many as seven in the first half before a 6-2 Ram run, capped by Frazier’s spinning, fall-away jumper at the buzzer, pulled Bangor within 24-23 at the half.

Warriors 50, Rams 42

Bangor (11-2) Nokomis (13-0)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Prudente 0 0 0 0 0 Welch 2 7 9

Miller 3 6 0 0 6 Pelkey 4 8 11

Frazier 3 9 1 2 7 Murray 0 4 0

Curtis 2 15 0 0 5 Lowe 3 5 6

Smith 8 14 4 5 20 Clark 7 13 14 23

Achorn 0 0 0 0 0 Palmer 0 0 0

McLeod 0 0 0 0 0 Burnett 0 0 1

Michaud 1 1 0 0 2

Tower 1 1 0 0 2

Magee 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 18 46 5 7 42 Totals 16 37 13 22 50

Bangor 8 23 34 42

Nokomis 14 24 37 50

3-pt. goals: Bangor (1-12): Curtis 1-9, Frazier 0-3; Nokomis (5-18): Pelkey 3-7, Welch 2-6, Murray 0-4, Clark 0-1

Attendance: 300 (est.)

Preliminary: Bangor JVs 52-30