Windjammers shut down Vikes

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BANGOR – Claire Neville scored just two points Wednesday night.

But her primary role was to prevent points, and at that she did a very good job.

Neville, one of only three seniors on the Camden Hills roster, helped shut down a tall and talented Caribou frontcourt as the eighth-ranked Windjammers kept their Cinderella story alive by defeating the Vikings 56-41 in an Eastern Class B girls basketball semifinal at the Bangor Auditorium.

The win advances Camden Hills to Saturday’s regional final against sixth-seeded Hermon, which edged No. 2 Maranacook of Readfield 43-41.

Neville, a 5-foot-9 forward, was matched up against Caribou 6-footer Monica Selander, and held the junior forward to two first-half points as the 15-6 Windjammers built a 29-21 lead.

Selander finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds, but Caribou got no closer than six points in the second half as the Windjammers followed up their quarterfinal upset of top-ranked Presque Isle with a solid victory over the fourth-ranked Vikings.

“[Selander] is such a talented athlete, and one of the focuses of our practices was to try to shut her down,” said Neville, who also grabbed eight rebounds. “We tried to front her, and I just had to stay strong against her and not go for ball fakes; those were my instructions.”

Marianne Croce, a 5-7 sophomore, was another strong defensive presence on the interior, limiting 5-11 Caribou senior Lindsay Burlock to six points.

Originally the Windjammers hoped to use their guards to help on post defense, but three first-half 3-point goals by Caribou’s Makayla Gahagan forced Camden Hills to play more head-to-head defense.

So the Windjammer guards went to work on the perimeter, harassing Caribou’s ballhandlers into 19 turnovers.

“We didn’t take care of the ball in the half-court,” said Caribou coach Bill Schofield. “We broke their press, but then we’d turn it over in the half-court and they capitalized.”

Junior guard Samantha Wiley led Camden Hills offensively with 18 points, while freshman guard Kayla Gushee scored 17 and Croce added 11.

“After coming in number eight and beating Presque Isle, we knew if we could control tempo and knock down shots, we could pull it out,” said Wiley.

Kylee Morrell came off the bench to add 10 points for Caribou, which ended its season with a 15-5 record.

WINDJAMMERS 56, VIKINGS 41

Camden Hills (15-6) Caribou (15-5)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Wiley 7 13 2 4 18 Dubois 0 0 0

Freisland 0 1 0 0 0 Gahagan 3 9 9

Smith 1 1 0 0 2 Harrigan 1 2

Newcomb 0 0 0 0 0 Ouellette 2 4

Butler 1 1 0 1 2 Dube 0 0 0

Holgerson 0 0 0 0 0 Burlock 2 5 6

Gushee 6 10 3 6 17 Cousins 0 0 0

Neville 0 2 2 2 2 Selander 5 10 0 2 10

Richards 1 1 0 0 2 Willey 0 0 0

Perry 0 0 0 0 0 Schofield 0 0

Hart 1 4 0 0 2 Morrell 4 7 0 10

Croce 3 10 4 7 11

Totals 20 43 11 20 56 17 43 41

Camden Hills 19 29 40 56

Caribou 10 21 30 41

3-pt. goals ? Camden Hills (5-16): Wiley 2-4, Gushee 2-6, Croce 1-3, Hart 0-1, Freisland 0-1, Neville 0-1; Caribou (5-16): Gahagan 3-6, Morrell 2-4, Selander 0-1, Burlock 0-1, Ouellette 0-1