Resilient ‘Jammers tip Tigers Hosts rally despite Croce foul trouble

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ROCKPORT – The Camden Hills girls basketball team played a true team game Thursday night, even though an important member of the squad spent most of the game on the bench. That kind of effort is something the Windjammers been seeking lately and it came…
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ROCKPORT – The Camden Hills girls basketball team played a true team game Thursday night, even though an important member of the squad spent most of the game on the bench.

That kind of effort is something the Windjammers been seeking lately and it came at the right time as Camden Hills met Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference rival Rockland in a key matchup at the high school gym.

Sophomore Kayla Gushee scored 13 points and senior Samantha Wiley added 12 as the Windjammers earned a 49-42 victory over the Tigers in a matchup of 10-3 teams.

“We’ve been struggling with the whole team thing, especially coming off last year, so this is a big game for us,” said Wiley, who was the Eastern Maine Class B tourney MVP in 2004. “Everyone played well and really stepped it up when we had foul trouble.”

Just as the Windjammers showed resiliency last year, they did Thursday. And everyone who played seemed to contribute something to the win, which was important with leading scorer in Marianne Croce in foul trouble all game.

Gushee was 3-for-4 from behind the arc in the second quarter as Camden Hills overcame a 12-4 Rockland lead late in the first quarter.

Fifteen seconds after coach Jay Carlsen called a timeout to right the team, the Windjammers went on a 9-0 run, sparked by a Kristen Richards jumper.

Camden Hills created most of its second-quarter offense from a pressing man-to-man defense, forcing seven turnovers in the period. Gushee hit a 3-pointer and Wiley made a jumper, both off Rockland turnovers, for an 18-14 lead. After two Georgia Smith free throws, Gushee made two more 3-pointers for a 26-16 edge.

“We ran the floor really well and took care of the ball better, and we made some important shots,” said Karly Holgerson, who had two important shots of her own in the fourth quarter.

The Tigers didn’t give up easily, however. They came back in the third to cut the ‘Jammers lead to 36-34 when Caitlyn Hynes scored two of her game-high 19 points, but Camden Hills had the ball for the final possession, during which Wiley adeptly passed the ball to Kayla Carleton on baseline for a lay-in with 1.3 seconds left.

“That was a big shot for us,” Wiley said. “It snapped any momentum they had.”

Hynes again got the Tigers within two points with the first basket of the fourth quarter, but Holgerson scored on two possessions in a row and the Windjammers held off Rockland at the line. Gushee made all four of her free throws in the fourth and Camden Hills went 7-for-9 from the line as a team.

The Tigers converted just one of their six free-throw attempts.

“I think at one point we had made one [free throw] and they had missed just one,” Rockland coach Karen Bickmore said. “We weren’t very solid from the line… I was more unhappy with our offensive execution than anything. We didn’t do some things to help us take advantage when we needed to.”

Croce, who has been averaging 13.2 points per game, did not score in the game.

WINDJAMMERS 49, TIGERS 42

Rockland (10-4) Camden Hills (11-3)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Todd 0 5 0 0 0 Wiley 3 7 6 12

N. Clark 0 5 0 2 0 Carleton 1 2

Felt 3 5 0 0 8 Parent 0 4 1 1

Barnes 4 5 5 10 13 Smith 2 8 8

Hynes 7 14 5 9 19 Philoon 0 1 0

Hanson 0 0 0 1 0 Gushee 3 8 13

Stone 0 0 0 0 0 Richards 3 7

Kenniston 0 1 0 0 0 Holgerson 3 6

D. Clark 1 2 0 0 2 Croce 0 4 0

Totals 15 37 10 22 42 Totals 15 42 14 20 49

Rockland 14 21 34 42

Camden Hills 13 31 38 49

3-pt. goals – Rockland (2-8): Felt 2-3, Todd 0-5; Camden Hills (5-16): Gushee 3-7, Smith 1-3, Richards 1-2, Wiley 0-1, Croce 0-1, Parent 0-2

JV: Rockland 39-23

Attendance: 400 (est.)

Correction: A stand-alone game action photo also ran in the State edition.

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