BANGOR – Kayla Webb heard two words coming from coach Ben Greenlaw on the sideline, and that was all she needed as the Hampden Academy girls basketball point guard launched her third 3-pointer of Tuesday evening’s matchup against Bangor.

It was a wide-open shot from deep in the left corner.

“We didn’t want to force anything, but Coach yelled, ‘Can it,'” Webb said. “So I shot it. I was open.”

It wasn’t a go-ahead basket, but the fact that Webb was open with just over two minutes left in the game was key. The Broncos connected on seven 3-pointers and had four players in double figures in a 61-55 win at Red Barry Gymnasium.

Mikki Libbey, who combined with Webb to go 6-for-12 from beyond the arc, paced Hampden (8-7) with 15 points.

The loss was Bangor’s third in a row and fourth in its last five games. The Rams are 6-9.

Hampden’s Tanna Ross, who will play for the University of Maine next year, added 13 points. She had an off-night, going 4-for-12 from the field as the Rams guarded her tightly in their man-to-man defense.

With Ross unable to get many touches, the Broncos had to go to the rest of their cast which included Webb (13 points), Kimble Rawcliffe (10) and Lauren Maltz (6).

“If people start shutting down Tanna it’s important for the guards to get it into Kimble and Rylee [Rawcliffe, Kimble Rawcliffe’s sister] to start things off,” Webb said. “Once we do that we can get things going.”

Rawcliffe, Ross and Webb all figured in as Hampden pulled away in the final three minutes.

Bangor scored two unanswered baskets to cut the Broncos’ lead to five points when Rawcliffe put back an offensive rebound with 2:47 remaining. Bangor’s Tawnya Godinez (13 points) hit with a jumper but Webb canned her 3-pointer and Ross hit a layup with 1:31 left.

The Rams again scored four straight points, including a Brooke Hackett basket that came off a Hampden turnover with 49.7 seconds remaining.

As Hampden inbounded the ball, Bangor set up its full-court pressure, trying to create another turnover. But the Broncos, who had 18 turnovers in the game, got through the Ram defenders and maintained possession until a Bangor foul with 22.4 seconds left. Webb hit both ends of a 1-and-1.

“We had to try to move the ball around so they couldn’t foul and stop the clock,” Webb said, “but we couldn’t make any dumb passes and give them another possession and let them back in the game.”

The Rams still had life as Godinez and Emily Heath each nailed jumpers late, but it wasn’t enough.

“They have a lot of people who can score and so we had to help,” said Kimble Rawcliffe, who guarded Godinez for most of the game. “They have some outside shooters and some people who like to drive in, so we had to move our feet, try and take the charge and not get cheap fouls.”

Amy Hackett led the Rams with 14 points. Caitlyn Smith added 10.

Bangor coach Tom Tennett was pleased with the Rams’ effort against Ross, but was disappointed with the rest of the rest of the defense.

“We were a couple of stops away and that’s when you have to dig a little bit deeper and we don’t do that,” Tennett said. “We have to have all five people playing defense. You can’t have two or three people playing defense and that’s what we’re doing right now.”

Bangor has a chance to snap its skid Thursday against Mt. Blue of Farmington. A win would likely give the Rams a boost in the standings – but that will only happen if they start doing more of the little things, Tennett said.

“We have to play harder, we have to rebound better,” he said. “It’s things like not boxing out on missed foul shots. All of those things that accumulate into big things.”

BRONCOS 61, RAMS 55

Hampden (8-7) Bangor (6-9)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Webb 3 11 4 4 13 B.Hackett 4 7 8

Foster 1 1 0 0 2 Dana 1 4 2

Libbey 5 8 2 2 15 Heath 3 7 8

Wilson 0 0 0 1 0 A.Hackett 7 13 0 2 14

K.Rwcliffe 5 9 0 1 10 Hartley 0 0 0

Maltz 2 3 2 3 6 Roberts 0 0 0

Ross 4 12 4 4 13 Clukey 0 1 0 0

R.Rwcliffe 1 2 0 0 2 Comstock 0 0

Godinez 6 14 1 13

Smith 4 7 2 10

Wadleigh 0 0 0

Totals 21 46 12 15 61 Totals 25 53 55

Hampden 13 27 44 61

Bangor 10 23 37 55

3-pt. goals – Hampden (7-17): Libbey 3-4, Webb 3-8, Ross 1-5; Bangor (0-3): Heath 0-1, Godinez 0-2

JV: Bangor 45-29

Attendance: 200 (est.)