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BANGOR – The program lists Hermon junior forward Malerie Hall at 5 feet, 6 inches tall, something that makes even her laugh.
“When they call me out, I’m the 5-6 junior who’s really 6-1,” she said.
Hall played even taller Friday night, pulling down 18 rebounds and anchoring a stifling defense that propelled the sixth-seeded Hawks to a 53-36 victory over third-ranked Belfast in an Eastern B girls basketball quarterfinal at the Bangor Auditorium.
Hermon will face No. 2 Maranacook of Readfield, a 50-40 winner over No. 2 Rockland in Friday evening’s second game, in Wednesday’s 7:05 p.m. semifinal.
“Malerie is a coach’s dream, she works so hard,” said Hermon coach Margie Deabay. “She gets bumped around and knocked around and keeps going at it. I have so much confidence in her and what she can do against anyone in the post.”
The win sends 16-4 Hermon to the regional semifinals for the second straight year.
Hermon’s biggest challenge in its quarterfinal was to deal with Belfast’s talented frontcourt duo of 6-2 Kate Bailey and 5-10 Kaitlin Murphy.
So the Hawks opted to play a 3-2 zone, with Hall and 5-10 Shannon Wiggin on the back line and Marissa McLeod, Shannon Dobbins, and Cassie Gray on the perimeter.
Rarely was Belfast able to penetrate that zone as McLeod and Dobbins combined to make 10 steals.
Even rarer was an uncontested inside shot. Murphy and Bailey were held to 11 points – none in the first half.
By that time, Hermon had built a 26-9 lead by limiting the Lions to 3-of-23 shooting from the field.
“We just wanted to shut down their big girls,” said Hall. “We fronted and doubled as much as we could. We were going to give them the outside shot, because they’re lower-percentage shots, and we just shut them down.”
McLeod led Hermon offensively with 14 points, 11 in the first half. White added 10 points, Wiggin scored nine, and Dobbins had eight.
Katelyn Ross paced Belfast with 13 points, eight in the fourth quarter.
“We didn’t execute offensively, that’s the bottom line,” said Belfast coach Ted Rioux, whose team made only 13 of 51 shots and committed 20 turnovers. “We didn’t do a poor job defensively. I thought we gave up a few easy baskets, but offensively we didn’t get it done.”
In Friday’s second game, Toby Martin scored 22 points – finally – against the Tigers.
Rockland beat Maranacook at the end of the regular season with a box-and-1 defense on the high-scoring guard, holding her to three points. This time, the Black Bears were ready.
“We really practiced a lot of offense to screen for her whenever possible so she could get open,” said senior Christine Bardaglio, who had 10 points and eight rebounds.
Martin, an all-tourney team member last year, was 10-for-11 from the free throw line in the second half and 5-for-5 in the final minute of the game.
The junior sparked Maranacook late. Rockland’s Caitlin Hynes had scored to cut the Bear lead to 43-40, but Martin drew a foul on a fast-break layup. She converted the free throw for a 45-40 lead with 47.6 seconds left.
The resilient Tigers scored the first basket of the game, but didn’t lead for the rest of the way. They weren’t ever out of it, either. Rockland tied it four times and a Hynes basket made it 36-36 early in the fourth.
“We just couldn’t get over the hump,” Rockland coach Karen Bickmore said. “We were two points back, four points back, even, but we just couldn’t make that run that we needed to get control or stay within reach.”
The Black Bears played a 2-1-2 zone designed to limit Rockland’s touches inside while holding off Kasey Felt, who is a good perimeter shooter. Felt went 3-for-6 from 3-point range.
Hynes finished with 10 points and eight rebounds, while Annie Pennell scored 11 points and added seven boards.
HAWKS 53, LIONS 36
Hermon (16-4) Belfast (15-4)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
McLeod 4 18 3 4 14 Grant 0 0 0
Campbell 0 0 0 0 0 Whittier 0 0
Dobbins 2 4 3 6 8 Cummings 1 3
White 5 11 0 0 10 Reed 1 1 2
Perry 0 1 0 0 0 Evans 0 1 0
Wiggin 4 6 1 2 9 Ellis 0 7 0
Ford 0 0 0 0 0 Read 0 5 0 0
Nightingale 0 1 0 0 0 K. Ross 5 15 13
Hall 3 7 1 4 7 Murphy 2 6 0 4
Macdonald 1 1 0 0 2 J. Ross 0 3 0
Gibson 1 3 1 2 3 Bailey 2 6 7
Spann 0 0 0 0 0 Gray 1 2 2
Flagg 1 4 3 5
Totals 20 52 9 18 53 13 51 11 36
Hermon 12 26 38 53
Belfast 5 9 16 36
3-pt. goals ? Hermon (4-12): McLeod 3-8, Dobbins 1-3, White 0-1; Belfast (4-25): K. Ross 3-10, Cummings 1-1, J. Ross 0-2, Flagg 0-2, Read 0-3, Ellis 0-7
BLACK BEARS 50, TIGERS 40
Rockland (13-7) Maranacook (17-2)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Grant 2 7 3 4 7 Faulkinghm 0 0
Clark 0 0 0 0 0 Martin 5 8 10 11 22
Felt 3 10 0 0 9 Violette 0 2 3
Pennell 4 9 3 3 11 Pullen 0 1 0
Dunton 0 0 0 0 0 Denbow 2 8 5
Belyea 0 0 0 0 0 Mrazik 0 1 0
MacMillan 0 0 0 0 0 Bardaglio 5 10
Barnes 1 5 1 2 3 Mason 2 3 5
Hynes 4 14 2 2 10 Bean 2 3 5
Crupi 0 1 0 0 0 Hopkins 0 0 0
Todd 0 1 0 0 0 Hall 0 0 0 0
Freeman 0 0 0 0
Totals 14 47 9 11 40 16 35 14 19 50
Rockland 8 21 34 40
Maranacook 12 22 34 50
3-pt. goals ? Rockland (3-8): Felt 3-6, Grant 0-1, Todd 0-1; Maranacook (4-9): Martin 2-4, Denbow 1-4, Bean 1-1
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