ORONO – The John Bapst girls basketball team has had its struggles from the free-throw line, but the Crusaders made the most of their chances from the line Wednesday night against Orono.

Chere Wickstrom put forth the best effort of all, hitting nine of her 10 free-throw attempts in a 48-33 victory at the high school gym.

Wickstrom finished with a game-high 18 points as the Crusaders of Bangor moved to 8-2.

John Bapst, which was ranked fifth in the most recent Eastern Maine Class B Heal point standings, has a tough stretch coming up with games against No. 9 Mattanawcook of Lincoln, No. 2 Presque Isle, and No. 3 MDI.

“We can take a little confidence [into the next three games],” Wickstrom said.

The Red Riots, now 5-5, lost their fifth straight game.

Coach Mike Webb’s Crusaders shot around 58 percent from the free-throw line in the first half of the season. Wednesday’s 70.3 percent (19-for-27) was a sign of improvement.

“Coach tells a lot of times that games are won at the free-throw line,” Wickstrom said. “So that’s looking good.”

Free throws and 10 Orono turnovers helped the Crusaders build a 23-12 halftime lead. John Bapst padded an eight-point first-quarter advantage with three free throws and an Ashley Freeman fast-break basket off a Riot turnover about two minutes into the second period.

“Their little four-point, six-point runs did it,” Orono coach Tim Baude said. “We battled back, down 11 at halftime, and cut the lead to 12 in the fourth quarter. But then they’d get two quick baskets.”

Senior Emily Artesani, who led the Riots with 13 points, hit a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer.

Wickstrom, the Crusaders’ top 3-point threat, went 0-for-4 from beyond the arc. She wasn’t looking to shoot much because of the foul situation – four of the Riots’ starters had two fouls in the first half and two were called for their second foul in the first quarter.

“Coach wanted us to take it to the hole because they were in foul trouble,” she said.

Orono outscored John Bapst 12-10 in the third quarter and was down by a manageable 12 points with about four minutes left in the game, but Bapst’s Taylor Greenlaw (10 points) put back an offensive rebound and Wickstrom made two free throws with one minute remaining.

Baude was pleased with how Orono handled the Crusader press, especially compared to John Bapst’s 48-29 win over Orono on Dec. 29 at the Bangor Auditorium. The Riots had 16 turnovers Wednesday but just a few against the man-to-man pressure.

“Our goal coming in was to break that press because it had killed us down there and I think overall we did that tonight,” he said. “They weren’t able to press the whole game because we were able to move the ball.”

CRUSADERS 48, RED RIOTS 33

John Bapst (8-2) Orono (5-5)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Jordan 0 2 0 0 0 Colbath 1 4 2

Freeman 2 4 2 4 6 Young 1 11 4

Nichols 3 5 1 1 7 Artesani 5 10 1 4 13

Greenlaw 3 6 4 8 10 Bates 1 1 2

Wickstrom 5 13 8 10 18 Starno 1 2 5

Wadleigh 0 1 0 0 0 Balaban 0 1 0

Havnevik 0 0 0 0 0 Hanson 0 1 0

McGuan 1 1 0 0 3 Sypher 0 0 1

Hardy 0 0 2 2 2 Woodbry 0 3 0

Gibson 0 1 2 2 2 Pavento 2 3 6

Laferriere 0 3 0 0 0

Soneson 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 14 36 19 27 48 Totals 11 36 15 33

John Bapst 14 23 38 48

Orono 6 12 24 33

3-pt. goals – John Bapst (1-7): McGuan 1-1, Jordan 0-2, Wickstrom 0-4; Orono (2-3): Artesani 2-3

JV: John Bapst 36-17

Attendance: 200 (est.)