HAMPDEN – When two sound defensive teams such as the Hampden Academy and Brewer girls get together, one scoring run can be the difference in the game.

A 12-0 Witches spurt in the first quarter, powered by two Katie Quimby 3-pointers, gave Brewer a lead it would never relinquish en route to a 38-28 basketball victory at Hampden Academy’s gym Saturday.

The Witches improved to 1-1 while Hampden slipped to 0-2.

Brewer’s lead grew to as many as 14 in the second half, but the feisty Broncos chipped away, slicing the lead to 34-28 with a little less than four minutes to play. After that, Brewer didn’t allow another Hampden point. Freshman Leah Jackson scored on back-to-back possessions for Brewer to up the lead back to 10.

“Leah did a nice job,” said first-year Witches coach Andy Nickerson. “Both of these teams are young, a lot of new kids out there. We’re happy to get a win.”

Both defenses limited each team’s accuracy from the field as the Witches shot 15-for-47 (32 percent) and the Broncos 9-for-53 (17 percent).

Defensively, Brewer mixed things up, mostly playing straight-up man-to-man then frequently shifting into a 2-3 zone, forcing the Broncos to take hurried, contested shots that wouldn’t fall.

“We didn’t do anything to help ourselves offensively. The shots weren’t going down for us tonight,” Hampden coach Ben Greenlaw said. “A lot of that credit goes to Brewer’s defense.”

After Brewer’s 12-0 run in the first quarter, the closest Hampden got the rest of the game was six. The Witches struggled offensively in a loss to Skowhegan recently and Brewer showed signs of offensive improvement during its scoring surge.

“Offensively, we’ve been struggling, so its good to get a spurt like that, and obviously we needed it,” Nickerson said. “Defensively, we’ve been doing a great job all year.”

During the run and throughout the first half the Witches exposed the Broncos’ man-to- man defense by getting their shooters clean looks off screens.

Greenlaw was surprised that Hampden trailed by only 10 at halftime despite shooting 2-for-24 in the opening half.

“I was amazed we were even in the game. It’s a credit to how we were playing defensively,” he said.

Junior Jordan McLain led a balanced Brewer scoring attack with nine points. Quimby and Jackson finished with eight apiece.

Rylee Rawcliffe led the Broncos with eight points and Kayla Webb added seven.

WITCHES 38, BRONCOS 28

Brewer (1-1) Hampden Acad. (0-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Quimby 3 12 0 3 8 Webb 2 11 7

Wilson 0 5 0 0 0 Libbey 0 8 3

Cote 0 3 4 7 4 K. R’cliffe 1 8 2

Gomm 0 0 1 2 1 Martin 2 10 1 5

Jackson 4 9 0 0 8 Lafayette 0 0

M. McLain 1 1 0 0 2 R. R’cliffe 3 8

Seymour 0 0 0 0 0 F-Mezger 1 3

J. McLain 4 10 1 5 9 Wilson 0 0 0

Kenney 3 7 0 0 6

Totals 15 47 6 17 38 Totals 9 53 17 28

Brewer 14 19 30 38

Hampden 5 9 20 28

3-pt. goals – Brewer (2-5): Quimby 2-5; Hampden (1-13): Webb 1-9, Libbey 0-4

JV: Brewer 40-36

Attendance: 200 (est.)