BANGOR, Maine — The John Bapst High School girls basketball team played a near-perfect first half against Ellsworth on Saturday night and held a comfortable 36-13 lead early in the second half.
But the determined Eagles came storming back and cut the lead to just six with 2:15 remaining in regulation only to see the Crusaders make seven of their last eight free throws and post a valuable 57-47 Class B North triumph on Cancer Awareness night at the Cross Insurance Center.
Sophomore guard Crystal Bell scored a game-high 19 points for the 10-6 Crusaders and also grabbed six rebounds and senior forward Hannah Philippon contributed 16 points and nine rebounds. Grace Philippon, Hannah’s sophomore sister, had six points and a game-high 12 rebounds to go with two assists.
Maddie Card had 15 points, seven rebounds, two steals and two assists for the 11-6 Eagles and fellow senior guard Kate Whitney contributed 10 points, 10 rebounds, five steals, three assists and two blocked shots. Samantha Mason had eight points for Ellsworth and Caitlin Bean had seven rebounds and two steals to go with three points.
Bangor-based John Bapst parlayed an effective 2-3 zone and total control of the boards to manufacture a 35-13 halftime lead. Hannah Philippon had 13 points and seven rebounds and Bell had 12 points and three rebounds as the Crusaders outrebounded the Eagles 23-11, leading to several second-chance points.
But after Hannah Philippon’s free throw opened the second half, the Eagles began crashing the boards aggressively and boxing out and they scored the final 12 points of the quarter to pull within 36-25. Whitney had four points of her eight second-half points and Card had a 3-pointer and an assist.
Ellsworth outrebounded John Bapst 14-8 and Bapst went 0-for-9 from the floor in the quarter.
Ellsworth used a 9-2 run in the fourth quarter to close to within 50-44 as Card scored five points and Mason had four.
But Bell and Abbey Legasse each sank two free throws to extend the lead to 10 and Ellsworth couldn’t get any closer than eight.
“We played real well in the first half,” said Bell. “They made us a little nervous in the second half but we battled hard and ended up with the win. Our free throws definitely helped us keep the lead. Without the free throws, it would have been a more interesting game.”
John Bapst converted 15 of its 19 fourth-quarter free throw attempts.
“We didn’t play good defense in the first half and we didn’t rebound well,” said Card, who had 13 second-half points including three, 3-pointers. “We didn’t have the fire under our butts. But we stepped it up in the second half. We played with a lot of heart out there.”
Ellsworth coach Andy Pooler felt his team may have been “a little starstruck” by the Cross Insurance Center in the first half but played with “more energy” in the second half.
“They’re a better basketball team than they showed in the first half,” said John Bapst coach Mike Webb. “We knew we needed to rebound well against them. I thought we played very well.”
John Bapst outrebounded Ellsworth 40-31 and outscored the Eagles 27-6 from the foul line.