The Bangor High School girls basketball team turned in an impressive performance in its last regular season game, jumping out to a 23-5 lead in the first quarter and cruising to an 85-29 victory over archrival Brewer at the Brewer High School Gym on Thursday night.
The Class AA Rams concluded the regular season at 15-3 and will be either the second or third seed for the AA North quarterfinals, which begin Thursday, Feb. 16, at the home courts of the top four seeds.
Class A Brewer finished at 6-12 and will be the eighth seed for the A North tourney, meaning a first-round date with undefeated top seed Gardiner at the Augusta Civic Center on Friday, Feb. 17.
“This is definitely a good win going into the playoffs,” said Bangor senior forward-center Abbie Quinn, who had 15 points, six rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots. “It was a very good night. We knew we needed to run the court and run our plays to get ready for the playoffs.”
Quinn entered the game as AA North’s top rebounder, averaging 12.5 per game, and the fifth leading scorer at 15.8 ppg.
“We really wanted to win because they’re our rivals. And as the game went on, we decided to work on things we needed to work on to prepare for the playoffs,” said senior guard Emmie Streams, who had a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds to go with five assists and four steals.
“Our ball movement was great. Even the subs came on and did real good job,” added the University of Maine-bound Streams, who leads AA North in assists with 6.4 per game and is second in steals with 3.8.
The Rams hit eight 3-pointers, including three straight by senior guard Cassidy Ireland in the first quarter.
“It’s huge when everyone hits outside shots and everyone shares the ball,” Streams added.
“We knew we were running into a juggernaut,” said Brewer coach Chad LaBree. “They have so many weapons. They move the ball very fast and they have a strong presence underneath.
“It was a good reality check for us as we move into our first round game,” the first-year head coach added.
The Rams had six players with at least nine points.
Senior guard Carmen Maddix had 10 points, two steals and two rebounds; senior forward Taylor Coombs had nine points, seven rebounds and three assists and Ireland chipped in with nine points on her three threes.
Senior forward Lilly Rice had nine points and 10 rebounds along with three steals.
Freshman Delaney Horr had a pair of 3-pointers for six points.
The Witches were led by freshman guard Jillian Ford, who notched 10 points and eight rebounds.
Junior guard Mariah Roberts collected six points and also had three rebounds. Sophomore Allie Flagg and senior Averi Nichols had four points each.
Bangor jumped out to a 13-2 lead and never looked back.
Ireland nailed her three 3-pointers in the first quarter and Streams added one.
The Rams generated a ton of easy transition baskets off turnovers resulting from their swarming full-court press.
Bangor will host either Edward Little High School of Auburn or Deering High School of Portland in Thursday’s quarterfinal game at the Red Barry Gym.
Bangor beat Edward Little twice, 50-26 and 55-36, and Deering once, 43-35.
Brewer lost its only game with Gardiner, 81-48.