BANGOR – It wasn’t hard to figure out which aspect of Tuesday night’s game against Bangor that Hampden girls basketball coach Mike Webb was most pleased with.

“I’m just tickled pink with our defensive effort. It was just superb defense,” he said with a big smile after the Class A matchup at Bangor High’s Red Barry Gym.

The Broncos held the Rams to 18 points through three quarters, while senior guard Megan Magoon scored 19 points and junior forward Emmy Russell had 11 points and 11 rebounds for a 53-34 victory.

Hampden is 13-2 while Bangor fell to 10-4.

The Broncs’ man-to-man defense was tough, especially the matchup of Hampden guard Lena Caron on Bangor forward Katherine Miller.

Even though Caron got into foul trouble – she picked up her third foul and sat with 3:26 left in the first half – Hampden didn’t miss much. Webb had junior guard Erin Campbell slide over to guard Miller.

Hampden also contained Bangor guard Erinne Magee, who is a dangerous 3-point shooter. Miller finished with nine points; Magee did not score.

“Erin Campbell was on [Magee] at first because Erin’s a little quicker,” Webb said. “When Lena got three fouls, we had to take Erin off of Magee and put her on Miller, and that shut her down pretty much. It was just great team defense.”

The Broncs did well against the Rams’ 1-3-1 zone, overloading one side in order to give Magoon, also a deadly outside shooter, open looks from the other side. She went 3-for-6 from behind the arc.

“My teammates did a really good job of swinging the ball around the perimeter and that shifted the whole defense,” Magoon said. “No matter what they do, they can’t shift back that fast, no matter what side they’re on.”

Magoon hit a big 3-pointer with 1:12 left in the first quarter as Hampden went up 9-7. Laura Clarke (11 points) tied it up for Bangor with a basket 14 seconds later, but Caron and Magoon each hit two free-throws to regain the lead for good.

Bangor’s Rachael McAllian put back a rebound to open the second quarter, but the 13-11 score was as close as the Rams would get. Russell drove for a basket and Magoon added her second 3-pointer for an 18-11 lead with 4:46 left in the half.

The Rams got into foul trouble in the second half, putting the Broncos in the bonus with 2:33 left in the third quarter. Point guard Ashley Tower and off-guard Marissa McLeod, both starters, both picked up their fourth fouls in the third quarter.

Hampden responded with a 10-for-15 free-throw effort.

“One of the things we’ve been able to do all year long is stay out of trouble and we were in constant foul trouble tonight,” Bangor coach Tom Tennett said. “… We’ve been playing super and tonight we didn’t, Every once in a while you have to have one of those nights. Hampden played well and we just didn’t do anything tonight.”

The Broncs struggled against the Rams’ zone press in the third quarter, but the seven turnovers didn’t hurt too much as Bangor couldn’t convert on the offensive end.

“We had been working on their press, we knew what they were going to do, but sometimes it did slow us up,” Russell said. “We had our points where we did keep up our press-breaker and it came together well.”

BRONCOS 53, RAMS 34

Hampden (13-2) Bangor (10-4)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Caron 0 1 2 2 2 Magee 0 4 0

Magoon 6 13 4 5 19 Tower 1 6 2

Campbell 1 2 3 5 5 Clarke 4 6 11

Bragg 1 4 4 5 6 McLeod 0 5 0

Russell 5 8 1 2 11 Miller 4 14 9

Robinson 2 2 4 4 8 McCrum 0 1 2

Spaulding 1 2 0 0 2 Johnson 0 3 1

Hayden 2 2 0 4

Woodcock 0 2 0

Robertson 0 1 0

McAllian 2 3 5

Totals 16 32 18 23 53 13 47 11 34

Hampden 13 26 36 53

Bangor 9 15 18 34

3-pt. goals: Hampden (3-7): Magoon 3-6, Caron 0-1; Bangor (0-4): Woodcock 0-2, Miller 0-1, McCrum 0-1

Attendance: 400 (est.)

Preliminary: Hampden JVs 46-38