HAMPDEN, Maine — The Hampden Academy girls basketball team pulled away in the fourth quarter and defeated Mt. Ararat of Topsham 54-44 on Tuesday night to advance to the quarterfinal round of the Eastern Maine Class A tournament.
Coach Tim Scott’s eighth-seeded Broncos (10-9) move on to play No. 1 Bangor (17-1) in Saturday’s 8:30 p.m. quarterfinal game at the Augusta Civic Center.
The Broncos outscored the Eagles 23-16 in the fourth quarter after both teams went back and forth throughout the game.
“It was one of our goals to get to Augusta and the kids came out and played real hard tonight,” said Hampden Academy head coach Tim Scott.
Two free throws from Mt. Ararat senior Alison Melcher had brought the Eagles within 41-39 with 3:44 left in the fourth quarter, but Hampden Academy guard Melissa Gilpin responded. She hit a 3-pointer to give the Broncos a five-point lead with only three minutes left.
The Broncos never looked back and made three free throws in the final minute to push their lead to 10 points and secure the win.
“They hit some big shots and we missed some easy shots,” said Mt. Ararat head coach Andy Morris. “You can’t win close games when you do that.”
Hampden Academy was led by freshman forward Brooklyn Scott, who scored 12 second-half points and finished with a game-high 15. Junior forward Courtney Dunton and freshman guard Marissa Gilpin also chipped in with nine points each.
“We made some stops at the end,” said Scott. “We got good looks on offense, made some foul shots and we handled their press.”
A balanced scoring attack kept Mt. Ararat (6-13) close throughout the game. The Eagles were led by Melcher, who finished with 10 points, six of them coming in the final period.
Senior Sara Lamb contributed eight points and guards Nikki Bradstreet and Lauren Sturgess each finished with seven.
“I thought we had an advantage inside with our post play,” Morris said. “We went away from that in that last three-minute stretch.”
Hampden led 23-20 at halftime and adjusted to Mt. Ararat’s pressure defense in the second half as Scott continued to take over down the stretch.
The Broncos face a more difficult test as they will face Bangor at the Augusta Civic Center this weekend. The Rams beat Hampden in both regular-season meetings, each by 19 points.