HERMON, Maine — Sophomore guard Crystal Bell scored a game-high 24 points and senior forward Hannah Philippon hit a pair of important baskets four seconds apart in the third quarter as the John Bapst High School girls basketball team posted a 59-45 victory over Hermon on Saturday night.
John Bapst of Bangor improved to 5-3 while Hermon fell to 2-6.
Bell had 14 first-half points as John Bapst built a 28-22 lead.
But the gritty Hawks kept battling back and were still within six when Phlippon hit a jumper and then stole a backcourt pass and laid it in to trigger an 11-4 spurt to close out the quarter and expand the lead to 47-34.
Bell said Philippon’s four quick points “took the momentum and gave it to us.”
“That was the turning point,” said Hermon first-year coach Chris Cameron.
“They had been making a quick pass back to the inbounder the whole game so I anticipated it that time,” Philippon said.
“Hannah showed a little senior leadership there,” said John Bapst coach Mike Webb. “She’s our four-year starter. She came up big.”
Hannah Philippon’s sophomore sister Grace then converted her own rebound and added three free throws to cap the flurry.
Hermon couldn’t get any closer than 11 the rest of the way.
“That was a gutty win,” said Webb whose team used an effective full-court press to force a number of turnovers. “We’re still young and Hermon is tough. They aren’t going to quit on you.”
John Bapst used nine unanswered points in the first quarter to build a 13-4 lead it would never relinquish.
Bell scored the first seven points and fed a pass to Madi Higgins to finish off the rally.
The Hawks rattled off seven straight points in the second quarter to pull within 21-18 with 5:25 left as sophomore Maddie Pullen hit consecutive baskets and Lauren Plissey converted a traditional three-point play.
But Bell and Hannah Philippon nailed consecutive 3-pointers to help the Crusaders take its six-point lead into the intermission.
Bell had a game-high 10 rebounds and also handed out two assists to go with her 24 points. Grace Philippon had 14 points, a game-high five steals and three rebounds and sister Hannah finished with 12 points and two assists. Higgins contributed six points and five rebounds.
Pullen paced the Hawks with 14 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Bryanne Crouse had seven points and three steals, Emi Higgins chipped in with five points and seven rebounds and Plissey had five points and six rebounds. Alex Allain had four points, four steals and three rebounds.
Hermon was without senior guard and co-captain Allessa Oakes due to illness.
“We have a young team and we have a lot to learn,” said Cameron. “You can’t win a game if you can’t put the ball in the basket. We had a lot of good looks but we’ve got to do a better job finishing.”
Hermon shot just 32.7 percent from the floor (18 for 55) and 50 percent (9-18) from the foul line.
John Bapst shot 50 percent from the floor (17-34) and 61.1 percent (22-36) from the foul line.
“We knew they were a very good foul shooting team and we didn’t do a very good job keeping them off the foul line,” said Cameron.