Camden Hills boys, girls sweep Hermon Quarterfinal round next for ‘Jammers

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ROCKPORT – Troy Gabriele probably won’t like what he sees in the mirror this morning. The Camden Hills senior guard was poked in the eye during the second half of Tuesday’s Southeastern regional playoff game, lost a contact lense (along with some eyelashes) and had to leave the high school gym floor for a few minutes to replace his contact.

It’s kind of the way the Camden boys basketball team’s second half started off: the Hermon boys getting back into the game, and the ‘Jammers struggling to stop the Hawks.

Gabriele eventually worked his way back into the game, as did the Windjammers. They held off the surging Hawks with a 10-point run in the fourth quarter for a hard-fought 80-58 victory over Hermon in an Eastern Maine Class B divisional game.

Camden Hills (18-1), ranked No. 1 in the Southeastern region standings, will head to the Bangor Auditorium Friday night to face the winner of today’s game between Orono and Foxcroft, which are ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, in the Class B Northeastern standings. Hermon, the eighth seed in the Southeastern division, wraps up its season with an 8-12 record.

The No. 2 Camden Hills girls also had to fight off a hard-charging Hermon squad and picked up a 64-48 victory in the first game of the playoff doubleheader. Andrea Blanchard scored a game-high 19 points for Camden.

The Windjammers (17-2) will play their Class B quarterfinal game Saturday at the Auditorium against No. 3 Caribou, which beat No. 6 Fort Kent Tuesday night in the Northeastern division. The Hawks, who were seventh in the Southeast, finish at 8-11.

In the boys game, Hermon clawed its way back from a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter. The Hawks went on a 10-2 run, which culminated with a conventional 3-point play by senior Wayne Shaw (team-high 20 points), to cut Camden’s lead to 56-50 with 4:57 left.

But the Windjammers scored 17 points in the final 3:38, sparked by a Grant Lippman putback and a Lippman basket off a pass from Will Dennen (12 points).

“We didn’t get the ball inside early in the game, but when we did that we got everything we wanted,” Camden coach Jeff Hart said.

Lippman scored six points in the fourth quarter and had 10 rebounds in the game.

A defensive switch may have been the difference for the Hawks. They started the game in a 1-2-2 zone but opened the second half in man.

“I thought our kids showed a lot of character,” Hermon coach Alan Tweedie said. “I thought the key to us coming back was we played man. We came out in man and I told my kids we were just going to suck it up, this was how we were going to win or lose. It got us within striking range in the third quarter, and that’s what we wanted.”

Gabriele scored 14 points in the first half, going 3-for-6 from 3-point distance. The Hawks started out the game in a 3-2 zone to try to stop some of the outside shooters, but Camden Hills popped in seven 3-pointers in the first half. The ‘Jammers were hitting shots a foot or two behind the 3-point arc.

“We just take a couple of steps back when they try and stop the outside shot,” Gabriele said.

Tyler Warren finished with 15 points and Will Dennen had 12 to go with seven rebounds.

In the girls game, senior Lauren Withey, who has struggled with a knee injury all season, didn’t start but looked good in contributing a season-high 15 points and six rebounds. Blanchard, meanwhile, looked as good as ever in hitting some big baskets that gave the ‘Jammers a more solid lead – something they had to search for all game.

Early in the game, Hermon kept close to Camden as the Hawks made some inside shots and hit mid-range jumpers.

“The defensive intensity that we had hoped to come out with wasn’t there and that translated into rebounding, too,” Withey said. “We were having trouble hitting the boards and getting a body on their girls.”

Blanchard scored Camden’s final three baskets of the first quarter for a 19-9 lead and later on in the second quarter, when Hermon was within 10 points, hit a 3-pointer.

“It got to 10 [points], but we could never get it below that,” Hermon coach Don Erb said. “If we could have made a two-, three-possession game we might have done it. But they’ve got a lot of depth. Once they got that lead, it was hard to come back.”

Withey and the rest of the bench, including Stephanie McIntyre, Sam Wiley and Brittany Laite, were especially key as the Windjammers got into foul trouble very early. Aimee Hoffman, the 6-foot-2 starting center, picked up her third foul in the first quarter. Starting guard Megan Dailey was whistled for her third early in the second quarter (Dailey was responsible for guarding Hermon point guard Jessie Wiggin, who had two points).

“Megan’s our defensive spark,” said guard Lucy Sommo. “She guarded [Wiggin] and that was our biggest matchup.”

Charlotte Croce had a big third quarter for Camden.

She put in a fast-break basket to open the second half, and after Hermon’s Rachel Jenkins scored, Croce knocked down a 3-pointer for a 15-point lead. The Windjammers hit four unanswered baskets (including another Croce fast-break score) to go up 45-26 with 3:12 left in the third. The junior guard finished with 12 points.

Hermon’s Shannon Dobbins scored six of her 12 points in the fourth quarter and Jenkins went 5-for-7 from the free-throw line in the period. But the ‘Jammers made their free throws on the other end and Blanchard made two baskets in the final minute to put the game out of reach.

Jenkins, a 5-10 senior, finished with 15 points and a team-best eight rebounds. Freshman forward Shannon Wiggin scored 14 points.

WINDJAMMERS 80, HAWKS 58

Hermon (8-12) Camden Hills (18-1)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Cayford 0 0 0 0 0 Davis 0 1 2

Schacht 6 14 3 4 16 Crupi 0 0 1

Frye 0 0 0 0 0 May 2 3 0 6

Robinson 2 8 3 5 8 Gabriele 8 14 1 3 22

McLeod 3 4 0 0 6 Moro 1 5 3

Ouellette 1 1 0 0 3 Wood 0 1 0

Watson 0 0 0 0 0 T.Stammen 3 6

Shaw 4 10 10 12 20 Warren 6 14 2 15

Lane 1 5 2 2 4 Fitzgerald 0 0 1

Shorey 0 0 0 0 0 O’Brien 1 1 2

King 0 2 1 2 1 G.Stammen 0 0 0

Keith 0 1 0 0 0 W.Dennen 5 12

Lippman 3 5 2 Massey 1 1 0 0 2

Totals 17 45 19 25 58 30 58 11 19 80

Hermon 11 30 40 58

Camden Hills 19 38 54 80

3-pt. goals: Hermon (5-12): Shaw 2-5, Ouellette 1-1, Robinson 1-2, Schacht 1-4; Camden Hills (9-15): Gabriele 5-9, May 2-3, Warren 1-1, Moro 1-2

Attendance: 450 (est.)

WINDJAMMERS 64, HAWKS 48

Hermon girls (8-11) Camden Hills (17-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

J.Wiggin 1 5 0 1 2 Dailey 3 6 8

Hichborn 2 8 0 0 5 Rokes 0 0 0

Garland 0 1 0 0 0 Orhon 0 0 0

Dobbins 5 7 2 2 12 Croce 4 10 12

Reynolds 0 3 0 0 0 Whithey 7 13 15

S. Wiggin 6 7 2 2 14 Laite 1 4 2

Jenkins 3 9 9 13 15 Blanchard 8 15 2 3 19

Wiley 0 2 0 0

McIntyre 0 3 0

Hoffman 2 4 0 4

Neville 0 0 2 2

Sommo 1 5 0 2

Totals 17 40 13 18 48 26 62 18 64

Hermon 9 20 28 48

Camden Hills 19 32 45 64

3-pt. goals: Hermon (1-3): Hichborn 1-2, J. Wiggin 0-1; Camden Hills (4-12): Croce 2-5, Whithey 1-2, Blanchard 1-2, Dailey 0-1, Laite 0-1, Wiley 0-1

Attendance: 400 (est.)