Hilton heads up Tigers’ victory Halftime adjustment pays off for Skowhegan

loading...

BANGOR – A key halftime adjustment that moved center Ashley Hilton from the perimeter to the middle made all the difference for the No. 3 Skowhegan girls basketball team in Friday afternoon’s Eastern Maine Class A quarterfinal.

Hilton, who had a quiet four points in the first half, scored 13 in the second to lift the Indians to a 48-34 victory over No. 11 Oxford Hills of South Paris at the Bangor Auditorium.

“It was just playing smarter, leadership,” Hilton said.

Skowhegan, now 17-2, moves to Thursday’s 7:05 p.m. semifinal. The Indians will face the winner of Saturday morning’s quarterfinal between No. 2 Nokomis of Newport and No. 7 Hampden Academy.

Oxford Hills, which won five of its final six games before Friday’s quarterfinal, finishes its season at 10-10.

The Indians and Vikings were tied at 18-18 after a slow-paced first half filled with turnovers and missed shots.

But Skowhegan opened the third quarter with a 11-0 run starting with Kala Thompson’s put-back and ending with freshman Nicole Paradis’ 3-pointer. Hilton, a 5-foot-11 senior, put in three straight baskets in between.

“[In the first half] we had her roaming on the perimeter hoping to get some penetration and it wasn’t happening,” Skowhegan coach Paul True said. “So we put her inside with Kala Thompson and they did a great job working high-low and getting the ball inside.”

Oxford Hills didn’t score until Ashley Dyer (nine points) hit a 3-pointer with 3:16 left in the third and had just seven points in the period.

“We’ve struggled to score a lot this year and if we could have matched them with some baskets in that quarter and scored ourselves … ,” Vikings coach Craig Jipson said. “When you don’t score for long periods of time you just start to get frustrated and I think that’s what happened to our kids.”

Hilton’s 12 rebounds helped the Indians to a 34-18 rebounding advantage. Thompson, a 5-9 freshman, added six boards.

Hilton went 6-for-8 from the floor in the second half. Thompson scored eight of her 12 points in the second half.

INDIANS 48, VIKINGS 34

Oxford Hills (10-10) Skowhegan (17-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Herrick 2 2 0 0 5 Gibson 1 4 3

Bell 1 9 1 2 3 Paradis 3 8 0 8

Thompson 0 1 0 0 0 Berry 0 0 0

Piirainen 1 3 0 0 2 Brown 0 0 0

Austin 1 3 0 0 2 Franklin 0 0

Bowden 0 0 0 0 0 Miller 0 0 0

Jones 0 0 0 0 0 Farley 0 0 0

Foster 1 5 0 0 2 Ballard 3 10 6

Owens 1 5 2 2 4 McDaniel 1 2

Dyer 3 8 0 0 9 Goodell 0 1 0 0

Brackett 3 4 0 0 6 Hilton 8 10 17

M. Darcy 0 0 1 2 1 Thompson 6 12

Totals 13 40 4 6 34 22 49 48

Oxford Hills 7 18 25 34

Skowhegan 6 18 33 48

3-pt. goals ? Oxford Hills (4-9): Dyer 3-7, Herrick 1-1, Foster 0-1; Skowhegan (2-14): Paradis 2-5, Franklin 0-1, Thompson 0-1, Ballard 0-2, McDaniel 0-5