BANGOR – It wasn’t a typical Bangor win with lots of transition scoring, but the way the Rams shot the ball Thursday night against Hampden, they’ll take it.

Sticking with more of a half-court game, Bangor got 19 points from senior Amy Hackett and a stellar effort from its bench players en route to a 57-39 over the Broncos at Red Barry Gymnasium.

Bench play was key for the 8-2 Rams, with substitutes accounting for 22 points. Sophomore Breianna Tocci led the backups with eight points, while sophomore starter Meagan Doucette scored nine.

“A lot of kids came in and played well and gave us good minutes,” Bangor coach Tom Tennett said.

Spread-out offense is the norm for the Rams this year. It was how the points came that was a little different.

The Rams usually force a lot of turnovers – Hampden had 19 Thursday – and like to convert on the other end. But the transition hoops didn’t come with consistency, so Bangor turned to its half-court offense. The Rams hit mid-range jumpers, looked inside, and put back the occasional offensive rebound.

It added up to a 24-for-43 (55.8 percent) shooting effort. Amy Hackett was 7-for-8 from the floor and Doucette made four of her seven field-goal attempts.

“We definitely played a different game tonight, but still it worked,” Hackett said. “Sometimes it’s not going to be the fast break. Sometimes it’s the half-court offense that’s going to work. We showed we can do both tonight.”

Tennett, however, cautioned that the Rams will have to up their defense and create off those turnovers, especially with Nokomis of Newport, the best defensive team in the KVAC North, coming to Bangor Saturday evening.

“We’ll have to be a lot more intense on defense than we were tonight,” he said. “We need that intensity we usually have.”

Bangor responded when the Broncos made pushes in the first and early fourth quarters.

The Rams used 12-2 run – with mostly sophomores on the floor – late in the first quarter and early in the second to hold off Hampden in the first half.

Hampden cut the lead to 38-30 early in the fourth quarter, but junior Hilary Sivik came off the bench for two baskets off passes from Hackett and sophomore Stephanie Comstock, and then Hackett scored one of her own to get the lead back to 14 points.

“We made our shots in the first half, but we needed to work on the defense and we did that, shutting them down in the second half,” Doucette said.

Freshman Michaela Stephenson led Hampden with nine points and senior Katie Foster added eight points.

Hampden (0-9) had trouble scoring after good defensive stands or, like Bangor, off turnovers. The Rams had nine in the second half, but Hampden couldn’t respond.

“We had a stretch when Bangor didn’t score, but we didn’t come down and convert,” Broncs coach Ben Greenlaw said. “We couldn’t really close the gap. We just didn’t play as well defensively as we have all year long, which is funny because offensively we probably played as well as we have all year long.”

jbloch@bangordailynews.net

990-8193

RAMS 57, BRONCOS 39

Hampden (0-9) Bangor (8-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Webb 1 4 0 0 2 Jackson 0 0 0 0

Pond 1 2 0 0 2 B.Hackett 2 4 5

Foster 4 8 0 1 8 Roberts 0 0 0

Wilson 1 2 2 2 4 Tocci 3 4 8

Stephensn 1 3 7 8 9 A.Hackett 7 19

Moore 3 6 0 0 6 Jellison 0 0

Rawcliffe 1 3 4 8 6 Frdnbrgr 2 4

Chambers 0 0 0 0 0 Doucette 4 9

Snyder 1 2 0 0 2 Dana 1 1 2

Wadleigh 1 4 2

Sivik 3 6 0 6

Clukey 1 4 0 2

Comstock 0 2 0

Totals 13 30 13 19 39 Totals 24 43 17 57

Hampden 7 18 28 39

Bangor 15 29 38 57

3-pt. goals – Hampden (0-3): Webb 0-3; Bangor (0-1): Sivik 0-1

JV: Hampden 35-33

Attendance: 150 (est.)