HERMON – Despite the fact that its full-court press wasn’t having much of an impact early in Friday evening’s game against Hermon, Ellsworth girls basketball coach, Dana Smith went back to the defensive strategy at a most opportune time.

The press allowed the Eagles to create offense off of turnovers, including a Krystal Roberts layup with 51 seconds left in the game that iced what would be a 49-46 victory in a season-opening Eastern Maine Class B matchup.

“We got a little desperate,” Smith said. “We had to get the ball. We were pretty much on life support there for a while. We put the press back on, we came up with some steals and Krystal hit a huge shot. … All of the sudden I looked up and we were tied. We played real gutsy.”

It was also a meeting of two new coaches. Smith’s team is now 1-0, while Margie Deabay’s Hermon squad falls to 0-1 despite a third-quarter comeback and six-point lead in the fourth.

The Hawks had a 46-41 edge and the Eagles had just missed two free throws when Smith called a timeout.

Ellsworth came out of the break in the press, and Ashley Oleson immediately created a turnover in the backcourt. The ball was passed around to 5-8 forward Roberts, who knocked down a 3-pointer with 3:01 left in the fourth quarter.

Oleson, who scored a game-high 24 points, put back a rebound about a minute later to tie the game at 46-46. And one minute after that, she stole the ball to set up the winning possession – Roberts’ offensive rebound and layup.

“Our press hadn’t been working earlier in the game but at the end of the game we were all pumped up and it started working well,” Oleson said. “Everyone was right on their toes.”

Roberts scored seven of her 11 points in the fourth quarter.

“Rebounding and turnovers, that’s what we’ve been trying to work for this year,” she said.

After struggling to make shots in the first two quarters, the Hawks were 7-for-13 in the third. That coincided with an 11-1 run that helped Hermon get from a 3-point deficit to a 38-31 lead with less than a minute remaining in the quarter.

“I think they were just being more patient and looking for the open shot if they had it, looking for the gaps,” Deabay said the Hawks’ rally. “The first half we were kind of impatient and hurrying it.”

Jessie Wiggin led Hermon with 15 points, including eight in the third quarter. Shannon Wiggin had 14 points and Shannon Dobbins, a 5-4 guard, racked up 12 rebounds.

As might be expected, both teams looked rusty in terms of ball-handling and free-throw shooting. Hermon made just four of its 13 attempts, while Ellsworth was 14-for-24.

EAGLES 49, HAWKS 46

Ellsworth (1-0) Hermon (0-1)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Eaton 0 2 0 0 0 J. Wiggin 6 22 1 2 15

Boutaugh 0 3 0 0 0 Smith 2 5 4

Kimball 2 9 0 0 5 Garland 1 6 2

Bickford 1 8 2 6 5 Dobbins 2 13 6

Duarte 1 1 0 0 2 S. Wiggin 7 13 0 0 14

Roberts 5 9 0 0 11 White 0 2 0

Fortier 0 1 0 0 0 Hall 2 7 5

Jones 0 0 2 2 2 Hills 0 1 0

Oleson 7 13 10 16 24

Tripp 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 16 46 14 24 49 20 69 13 46

Ellsworth 11 23 34 49

Hermon 9 22 38 46

3-pt. goals: Ellsworth (3-10): Roberts 1-1, Bickford 1-3, Kimball 1-3, Eaton 0-1, Boutaugh 0-2; Hermon (2-8): J. Wiggin 2-8

Attendance: 250 (est.)

Preliminary: Ellsworth 42-41