HAMPDEN – Yes, Hampden Academy’s girls were 2-0 against Brewer; Yes, the Broncos were at home for the third meeting; and yes, Hampden was a prohibitive favorite in this playoff rematch between Nos. 5 and 12 seeds.

So were the Broncos looking past the Witches to the quarterfinal round? No way.

“We knew that they had a good team. Our last game went into overtime before we pulled it out,” said senior guard Jamie Wells.

The Broncos unveiled a new full-court press which worked with devastating success in Tuesday night’s Eastern Maine Class A preliminary game. Hampden held the Witches to two points in the first quarter and nine in the first half while building a 20-point lead and coasted to a 54-30 victory at Hampden Academy’s gym.

“We didn’t have a lot of time to put a lot of new things in, but I figured we needed to play a very aggressive defense,” said rookie head coach Mike Webb, whose 13-6 Broncos advance to play No. 4 Skowhegan in a 3:10 p.m. quarterfinal game at the Bangor Auditorium Friday.

“We haven’t really pressed all year, but I just knew that scouting reports on us were we’re just going to play our sagging, man-to-man defense,” Webb explained. “I knew Brewer was young so I wanted to come out and pressure them right off the bat.”

The strategy paid off as Brewer committed nine turnovers in the first quarter and Hampden seized an 11-2 lead in a game it never led by fewer than three points.

“We really wanted to come out strong on defense and stop their fast break while pushing ours, and we did that pretty much with our press,” said Jen Hessert.

The junior forward had just four points and six rebounds, but her defensive effort on Brewer forward Jenny Higgins was a big key.

Megan Robinson also had a big game. The junior forward came off the bench to spell Hessert on Higgins and finished with 13 points and six boards.

“It’s basically matchups,” Robinson said. “Jen’s a little bigger than I am and after she got into foul trouble, I just wanted to do whatever I could.”

Other Bronco standouts were sophomore forward Emmy Russell (10 points, 10 rebounds) and junior guard Megan Magoon (17 points).

“When they got up on us so fast, we had to press and make it more out of control than we wanted and Hampden’s a very good out-of-control team, so that kept them ahead,” said Brewer coach Tim Thornton. “We did get it back a little bit and I’m proud of the way we kept at them.”

Thornton was concerned about the condition of Higgins, who had to be carried off the court after a collision away from the ball with 3:41 left in the game. The injury appeared to be to her right ankle, but Thornton was awaiting further information.

Higgins finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds, and three assists.

The Broncos only outrebounded Brewer 34-30, but were having much more success with their offensive rebounds.

“They made a lot of first shots too, but when they did get the rebound underneath, they always seemed to have a good angle to put it back in,” Thornton said.

Broncos 54, Witches 30

Brewer girls (7-13) Hampden Academy (13-6)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG F AF TP

Adams 0 2 2 2 2 Caron 1 4 0 3

Capponi 0 2 0 0 0 Magoon 7 11 3 17

Bean 1 5 2 2 5 Wells 1 6 0 3

A.Freeman 1 5 0 0 2 Wilson 0 0 0

Crosby 0 0 0 0 0 Bragg 0 1 2 2

Wing 2 10 1 1 6 Martin 0 0 0 0

McAvoy 1 4 0 1 2 Russell 5 13 0 10

Armstrong 0 0 0 0 0 Robinson 3 13

Hamm 0 0 0 0 0 Shaw 0 0 0 0

Sutherland 0 4 0 0 0 Butler 0 1 0

McLaughlin 0 0 0 0 0 Hessert 1 2 4

Eason 0 0 0 0 0 Ireland 1 1 0 2

Higgins 6 13 0 0 13 Campbell 0 1 0

K.Freeman 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 11 45 5 6 30 Totals 19 44 14 21 54

Brewer 2 9 23 30

Hampden Academy 11 29 38 54

3-pt. goals: Brewer (3-9): Bean 1-1, Higgins 1-2, Wing 1-3, Capponi 0-1, Freeman 0-2; Hampden (2-5): Caron 1-1, Wells 1-2, Magoon 0-1, Bragg 0-1