AUGUSTA, Maine — Mary Butler’s last-second blocked shot foiled a furious Hampden Academy comeback and enabled top-ranked Bangor to escape with a 41-40 victory over the youthful Broncos in their Eastern Maine Class A girls basketball quarterfinal at the Augusta Civic Center on Friday night.
Bangor (18-1) advances to play No. 4 Edward Little of Auburn in Wednesday’s semifinals. The Red Eddies (15-4) moved on with a 43-32 victory over No. 5 Mt. Blue of Farmington.
Cordelia Stewart led Bangor offensively with 17 points, while Quinn Wood scored eight second-half points and Butler, the Darling’s/BDN player of the game, grabbed 15 rebounds, dished out seven assists and had the game-saving blocked shot.
Junior forward Courtney Dunton paced Hampden with 19 points — 15 during the third quarter after Hampden scored just 11 points in the entire first half.
Erin Murphy, the lone senior on the roster, added nine points, all 3-pointers
Hampden (10-10) rallied all the way back from a 38-21 deficit late in the third quarter with a 19-2 run capped off by two of Murphy’s 3-pointers.
The first was a straightaway shot from beyond the top of the key that banked in with 1:20 left in the game, the second from the right of the key to forge a stunning 40-40 tie with 46 seconds left.
Bangor then worked the ball inside to Katie Butler, who was fouled after grabbing the rebound of her initial missed shot with 23.7 seconds remaining. She missed her first free throw but made the second to give Bangor back the lead.
That left Hampden a chance to win, but when the Broncos worked the ball into the lane to a cutting Murphy, Mary Butler was there for the block and the Rams recovered the ensuing loose ball as time expired.
Stewart scored 10 points in the first half as Bangor used its superior height to build a 23-11 lead.
Hampden took an early 9-8 lead, but Bangor switched to a player-to-player defense and held the Broncos scoreless for a nearly nine-minute stretch of the half until Dunton made two free throws with 1:34 left in the second quarter.
Bangor scored 11 straight points during that stretch, and outscored Hampden 15-2 over the final 10 minutes of the half.
