BANGOR — The Maine Central Institute girls basketball team managed to hang around for a while. But it’s Hermon that’s moving on in the Class B North girls basketball tournament.
The No. 10 Huskies fell to the No. 2 Hawks 58-30 at the Cross Insurance Center on Friday night. Hermon will meet Mt. Desert Island, which beat Ellsworth 46-28 on Friday night, in the semifinal round.
Elizabeth Wyman and Faith Coombs each scored 12 points to pace Hermon (17-2). Danielle Dow and Anna Dospelova each scored seven points for MCI (11-9).
“It feels really good (to win),” Wyman said. “We’ve worked really hard this season. We’re just ready to keep moving and keep pushing forward.”
“It’s always great to get down here on the big floor and the bright lights and get that first (win of the tournament) out of the way,” Hermon head coach Chris Cameron added.
MCI trailed 10-7 after the first quarter. But an 8-0 run in the second quarter — led by the play of Hermon forward Elizabeth Wyman, who scored all 12 of her points in the first half — helped the Hawks to a 31-17 halftime lead.
The Huskies tried to combat Hermon’s tough offense with a full-court press, but the Hawks simply had to much poise and size. Hermon was also able to use its length to force several turnovers.
“MCI is a good team, they have a good (Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference) style, up-tempo, pressure, run a full-court press,” Cameron said. “They like to spread the floor offensively. They started out pretty well. It took us a while to settle in. That type of pressure is both physical and mental, so you have to settle down, be composed. I think after time went on, we kind of settled in and wore them down a little bit.”
Hermon’s Megan Tracy (23) trips over Maine Central Institute’s Hannah Robinson (24) during a Class B North girls basketball quarterfinal game Friday at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel
The Hawks outscored the Huskies 19-3 in the third quarter — including 12-0 late in the period — to run away with the game in the second half.
“We just talked about (at halftime) how we needed to stay disciplined on (defense) and not fall into their up-pace tempo, keep our pace and just play our game.”
Maddie Lebel had 10 points and eight rebounds for Hermon, while Megan Tracy added nine points and five rebounds.
MCI head coach Matt Bartlett was proud of his team’s effort.
“Last year, I was (MCI’s JV coach), we didn’t have (a tournament), so we’re just grateful to be here,” said Bartlett, whose Huskies beat No.7 Foxcroft Academy in the prelim round. “We get a big win, we beat Foxcroft to get here. That was our goal, just to get down to the Cross Center. After that, we were just going to see what happened. We came out on the wrong end, but that’s okay.”
Dave Dyer – 621-5640
ddyer@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @Dave_Dyer
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