HODGDON – The release of new Heal Point standings Tuesday morning made Tuesday evening’s Eastern Maine Class D girls basketball game between Southern Aroostook and Hodgdon a matchup of the No. 1 and No. 2 teams, respectively.

Southern Aroostook coach Jon Porter tried not to dwell on that so much before the game started.

“I saw it this morning, but I don’t know if the girls knew it so much,” he said. “We try to keep them focused, not caring what seed [the opposition] is, and the rest will take care of itself.”

Still, the excitement of the matchup must have been added incentive for the Warriors of Dyer Brook. They used a run early in the second half to erase a two-point halftime deficit and made some key baskets in the fourth quarter to ensure a 55-39 victory over the Hawks at the high school gym.

Southern Aroostook remains undefeated at 13-0 with five games left on its regular-season schedule. Hodgdon fell to 11-3.

“We were excited and nervous,” said junior guard Mindy Watson, who was 10-for-12 from the foul line in the fourth quarter and finished with 12 points. “It was a big game.”

Audrey Charette, who scored two points in the teams’ first matchup of the season, finished with 13 points and 14 rebounds for the Warriors. The Hawks had played a triangle-and-2 defense on Charette and Watson in the first game, something Southern Aroostook said it wasn’t expecting from Hodgdon so early in the season.

The Hawks tried the triangle-and-2 again Tuesday, but came out of the defense as other Warriors began to make shots.

Charette had five points in the first half but found ways to get open early in the third quarter for the Warriors, who were behind 25-23 at halftime. Charette scored three straight baskets during an 8-0 Southern Aroostook run that gave the Warriors a 31-25 lead.

Hodgdon’s Amanda Fitzpatrick ended the stretch with an offensive rebound basket and later in the quarter the Hawks sliced the lead to two points. But Southern Aroostook’s Kaylea Collier connected on a 17-footer and Shana Martin put in a layup off a pass from Watson for a 37-31 lead at the end of the third.

“The defenders were just a little bit hesitant,” Hodgdon coach Wendy Ivey said. “We played tough defense in the first half and did all right in the second half, but it was lower key. We didn’t seem to be as intense. … They played a wonderful first half, the best I’ve seen them play yet.”

Martin had six of her team-high 14 points in the third quarter to help the Warriors. She also had six rebounds.

“I think we just came out ready to play and work hard, because we were down,” junior forward Charette said. “We were ready to come out and play in the third quarter.”

Southern Aroostook was able to maintain at least a five-point lead for the rest of the game. The Warriors went up by nine after two baskets that originated from the back of a spread offense against Hodgdon’s 2-3 zone.

“We spread out our offense and it seemed to help,” Watson said. “It makes them come up and therefore we can attack because it gives us more room.”

Southern Aroostook held Hodgdon to four points in the final 3:20 of the game.

Southern Aroostook stuck with man-to-man defense. The Warriors had Olivia McGary (eight rebounds) on Fitzpatrick (six points) and Watson on Foster (11 points, 11 rebounds). Colette Sloat led the Hawks with 14 points and added seven boards.

Foster did have a big basket in the second quarter. Hodgdon played from behind in the first half, but Foster hit a baseline jumper with 12 seconds before halftime to give the Hawks their only lead of the game.

WARRIORS 55, HAWKS 39

So. Aroostook (13-0) Hodgdon (11-3)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Charette 6 11 1 1 13 C. Sloat 7 14 0 1 14

Hardy 2 6 0 0 4 Williams 0 0

McLaughlin 0 0 0 0 0 A. Sloat 1 2

Collier 3 7 0 0 7 Blanchette 1 3

Caswell 0 0 0 0 0 D.Fitzpatrick 0 0

McGary 2 8 1 2 5 A.Fitzpatrick 3 6

Martin 7 10 0 0 14 Foster 3 11 11 11

M. Watson 1 13 10 12 12 Dwyer 1 3 3

Lyons 0 0 0 0 0

K. Watson 0 2 0 0 0

Totals 21 57 12 15 55 Totals 16 48 13 39

So. Aroostook 13 23 37 55

Hodgdon 10 25 31 39

3-pt. goals ? SAHS (1-8): Collier 1-1, McGary 0-1, M. Watson 0-6; Hodgdon (1-4): Blanchette 1-4

Attendance: 250 (est.)

JV: Hodgdon 42-32