BANGOR, Maine —- Senior guard Sarah Bragg scored a game-high 18 points and Quinn Wood came off the bench and hit a pair of important 3-pointers in the fourth quarter as Class AA North Bangor rallied to a 50-34 girls basketball win over Class A North Messalonskee of Oakland Tuesday night at Red Barry Gym.
Bangor improved to 9-8, and Messalonskee fell to 14-3. Its previous two losses were to defending Class A state champ Lawrence of Fairfield.
The Rams went 6:15 without scoring over the second and third quarters, and Messalonskee used a 10-0 run to open the second half to build a 29-23 lead.
But Emily Gilmore fed Bragg for a pair of 3-pointers that sandwiched a pair of free throws by Katie Butler to give Bangor a 31-29 lead.
Ally Turner hit a jumper from the right of the foul line to tie it, but Gilmore passed it underneath to Jenna Bishop, who banked in a short jumper to give Bangor the lead for good.
Butler opened the fourth quarter with a pair of free throws and, after a Turner free throw, Gilmore converted a Bragg pass from in close and drove the lane for what turned out to be a traditional three-point play.
Sophia Holmes hit a runner to pull the Eagles within 40-34, but Messalonskee didn’t score the final five minutes, and Wood’s 3-pointers off passes from Butler expanded the lead to 46-34 and all but sewed up the win.
“I just tried to keep my positive energy on the bench, and when we ran our rotation, my teammates made it easy for me to get wide open shots,” said Wood.
“When Quinn comes off the bench, she usually lights it up,” said senior guard Gilmore. “And Sarah is always a consistent shooter.
“We came out flat in the second half, but by the end of the third quarter, we started working together, we moved the ball well, and we were a lot more patient,” she added.
“Gilmore and Bragg have good senior leadership, and they don’t stop,” said Messalonskee coach Keith DeRosby. “Emily Gilmore never stops. Kudos to Bangor for rebounding so well. And they’re strong defensively. We had a hard time getting through their screens, so their shooters had a little more room than we would have liked.”
“Everyone played real well, even the people off the bench,” said Bragg. “I had a hot hand and I was open, so I kept shooting.”
Bragg finished with four rebounds, four assists and two steals to go with her 18 points.
Gilmore had nine points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals, and the 6-foot-1 Butler, who sat out the final 11:17 of the first half because of foul trouble, contributed a game-high 14 rebounds to go with four points. Bishop and Wood each had six points. Bishop had three rebounds and two blocked shots.
Sophia Holmes led Messalonskee with 12 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots. McKenna Brodeur had 11 points, and Turner wound up with seven points, three rebounds and two steals.