BANGOR – Two Big East Conference rivals used fine performances from two new 1,000-point scorers and stifling defensive efforts to record Eastern Maine Class A quarterfinal girls basketball victories at the Bangor Auditorium Saturday.
Nokomis junior forward Danielle Clark scored 23 points, including her career 1,000th, to power the No. 1 Warriors of Newport past the No. 4 Mount Ararat Eagles of Topsham 62-45 in the afternoon game.
Senior guard Megan Magoon responded in the evening contest to score 20 points and her 1,000th career point to lead No. 3 Hampden Academy to a 58-44 win over the No. 2 Oxford Hills Vikings of South Paris.
Hampden showed off a new 2-3 zone to shut down the Vikings while defending state champion Nokomis used an aggressive man-to-man that helped it match up well and box out the taller Eagles.
Nokomis beat Hampden in two close regular-season games while the Broncos edged the Warriors in the Big East final. They will battle in an 8:40 p.m. Thursday semifinal.
In the evening game, Hampden coach Mike Webb decided to implement the 2-3 zone even though his team had relied on man-to-man throughout the season.
“We learned [Oxford Hills] was small, very fast, could penetrate and had two kids who could shot the three-(pointer),” Webb said. “We figured if we could keep them from penetrating and keep a hand up on [Kyla] Decato and [Tiffany] Sims and box out, then we’d be in good shape.”
The zone limited the Vikings to a 16-for-65 effort (25 percent) from the field. The Broncos’ defense hampered the Vikings early as they shot only 3-for-17 in the first quarter.
The defensive effort helped the Broncos jump out to a 9-0 surge and 15-8 first-quarter lead. Hampden never trailed in the game, but the aggressive Vikings did cut the lead down to 48-44 with 3:47 left in the game.
The Broncos then held the Vikings scoreless the rest of the way while hitting 8 of 14 free throws to seal the victory. Hampden enjoyed a 30-9 advantage from the line.
Senior center Megan Robinson turned in a strong effort for the Broncos with 13 points and 14 rebounds while junior forward Emmy Russell added 10 points and eight rebounds. Senior guard Lena Caron notched five assists.
Decato, a senior guard, paced the Vikings with 22 points, eight rebounds and three steals while junior forward Becca Brackett had 11 rebounds.
In the afternoon game, Nokomis’ 6-foot Clark energized the Warriors with some strong moves to the basket and scored 11 points to give the Warriors an 18-10 first-quarter lead.
With the Eagles concentrating more on Clark at the start of the second, the Warriors went to the perimeter for an 11-0 scoring run that featured two 3-pointers by junior guard Michelle Murray and another by junior guard Gillian Snow.
The result was a comfortable 29-10 lead that the Warriors pretty much maintained the rest of the way.
“When I wasn’t able to score, we needed those threes,” Clark said. “Sometimes we don’t have that inside-outside game going on, but we were hitting on all cylinders today.”
The Warriors also received a lift from the return of junior guard Lindsey Welch, who hadn’t played since Jan. 29 because of a stress fracture in her right foot. Welch helped Murray break some Mount Ararat pressure and nailed two 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter to thwart any hope of an Eagles comeback.
Murray chipped in with 16 points on a superlative 5-for-6 effort from the floor while Welch notched four assists and Clark had seven rebounds and two blocked shots.
Junior forward Ashley Nesbit paced the Eagles with 13 points and 10 rebounds while sophomore guard Erin Stupinski had five assists and three steals.
WARRIORS 62, EAGLES 45
Mount Ararat girls (13-7) Nokomis (18-2)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
White 1 4 0 0 2 Welch 2 7 6
Stupinski 4 9 0 0 9 Murray 5 6 16
Graviett 0 0 0 0 0 Gould 0 0 0
Johnson 4 8 1 4 9 Snow 2 3 9
Sirois 0 0 0 0 0 MacKenzie 0 0
Jes. Mayo 0 0 0 0 0 Gonzalez 0 0
Jen. Mayo 1 1 0 0 3 Paradis 2 2 4
Nesbit 6 12 1 3 13 Merrow 0 2 0
Levesque 2 6 1 2 5 Perry 0 1 0
Theberge 0 0 0 0 0 Lowe 2 3 4
Rogers 2 4 0 0 4 Clark 8 16 23
Totals 20 44 3 9 45 Totals 21 40 13 18 62
Mount Ararat 10 17 30 45
Nokomis 18 38 49 62
3-pt. goals: Mount Ararat (2-3): Stupinski 1-2, Jen. Mayo 1-1; Nokomis (7-14): Welch 2-5, Murray 4-5, Snow 1-3, Clark 0-1
BRONCOS 58, VIKINGS 44
Hampden (17-3) Oxford Hills (16-4)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Webb 0 0 0 0 0 Seams 1 19 2 5
Caron 1 1 4 5 7 Bell 2 4 4
Magoon 5 18 7 10 20 Edwards 4 9 8
Littlefield 0 0 0 0 0 Piiraninen 0 0
Campbell 0 1 0 0 0 Thompson 0 0
Russell 3 3 4 11 10 Cummings 0 0
Robinson 2 4 9 10 13 Darcy 0 0 0
Spaulding 0 2 0 2 0 Decato 9 23 22
Ireland 0 1 0 0 0 Foster 0 0 0
Hessert 0 2 2 4 2 Owens 0 1 1
McBee 0 0 0 0 0 Dyer 0 1 0
Bragg 1 6 4 6 6 Craib 0 0 0
Brackett 0 5 4
Darcy 0 1 0 0
Totals 12 38 30 48 58 Totals 16 65 12 44
Hampden 15 32 45 58
Oxford Hills 8 20 36 44
3-pt. goals: Hampden (4-10): Caron 1-1, Magoon 3-7, Bragg 0-2; Oxford Hills (3-17): Seams 1-11, Darcy 2-6
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