PARIS, Maine — Both Bangor and Oxford Hills entered Tuesday’s Class AA North girls’ basketball clash on hot streaks, with each team winning four of its past five games. Cold shooting dominated the game, but the Rams got some big shots from their youngest player and made enough free throws to down the Vikings 42-32.
Oxford Hills (5-3) didn’t score for the first three minutes of the game, but looked to have found its
stride by finishing the first quarter on 7-1 run to lead 9-6.
The Rams (5-4) tied it on their second possession of the second quarter, as freshman Olivia Sharrow hit a 3-pointer. The Vikings, meanwhile, turned the ball over on their first three possessions of the period, before a put-back by Erin Morton the next time down the floor gave Oxford Hills an 11-9 lead.
Sharrow drained another 3-pointer just over three minutes into the quarter to give the Rams the lead back, at 12-11, and they never looked back after that.
“She’s had that kind of year already. She’s hit two or three 3s usually in every game,” Bangor Joe Johnson said. “So, as a freshman, she’s a pretty poised shooter.”
Morton’s basket was the only one of the quarter for the Vikings until Jadah Adams made a second-chance layup out of a timeout with 90 seconds left before halftime. That cut Bangor’s lead to 16-13, but the Rams stretched the advantage to 20-15 at halftime.
“It’s tough to get in a rhythm if you keep missing baskets,” Oxford Hills coach Nate Pelletier said.
“It’s like there was a cover on the hoop tonight.”
The teams traded turnovers to start the second half, then Tianna Sugars hit a close-range shot in
transition to open the scoring. It was the first easy basket for Sugars, who was held to just one field goal and four points in the first half. She then made another shot in the third and poured in
eight points in the fourth to finish with a game-high 16 points.
“At some point that’s what we need Tianna to do,” Pelletier said. “I think that we were hoping that
she would have done more of that in the first half. She showed what she can do in the second half.”
Some of Sugars’ frustration was caused by Bangor’s tough zone defense, which was designed to stop her. Both Emily Gilmore and Katie Butler were tasked with taking away the Vikings’ standout senior.
“That’s the first time we’ve really gone to [the zone] for that long,” Johnson said. “But with Tianna
in there, the way that she can finish, and the offense they run for her, it’s hard to defend. The zone worked.”
The Rams weren’t overly efficient either from the field, but were able to hit on four attempts from
the 3-point line (three by Sharrow), and were able to make 10 foul shots in the fourth quarter after
going into the final period with a 30-24 lead.
Bangor didn’t make it to the free-throw line in the third, as the Vikings weren’t called for any fouls, but stepped to the charity stripe 17 times in the fourth. Even when they missed, the Rams often times pulled down the offensive rebound.
Megan Conner did much of Bangor’s damage from the line, making 5 of 8 foul shots to help seal the victory, which was the Rams’ fourth straight.
“I’d say it was a little bit of everything, and we made foul shots at the end,” Johnson said of the key to success.
Sharrow led the Rams with 12 points, while Conner added nine and Sarah Bragg had eight.