Two of the state’s premier point guards squared off at the Red Barry Gym on Thursday night as Bangor High School’s Emmie Streams and Lawrence High School of Fairfield’s Hope Bouchard went toe-to-toe.
The lightning-quick duo guarded each other but Bouchard got in foul trouble and Streams and senior center Abbie Quinn combined for 45 points as the Rams avenged an overtime loss from a year ago with a 62-52 triumph.
Class AA Bangor is now 4-0 while Class A Lawrence is 2-2.
Bouchard, who picked up her fourth foul with 5:51 left in the third period, finished with 14 points and helped the gritty Bulldogs overcome a 13-point first-half deficit to tie it up at 39-39 with three minutes left in the third period.
Bangor outscored Lawrence 11-2 over the final three minutes of the third period and the first 2:28 of the fourth quarter to build a 50-41 lead and made enough free throws down the stretch to hold off the rallying Bulldogs.
The Rams outscored Lawrence 21-10 from the foul line, going 21-for-33 while Lawrence went 10-for-13.
Bangor made 17 of its 27 free throws in the second half.
“We wanted to draw fouls in the second half, that was a big thing,” said Quinn, who finished with a game-high 25 points and 11 rebounds while also notching two assists. “We knew the refs were going to call it so we tried to draw contact.”
“We attacked and saw what we could get out of it,” said Streams, who had 20 points including 10 off free throws in the second half.
She also had two steals.
“Streams is a heckuva’ player,” said Lawrence coach Greg Chesley. “She is really, really quick and she is strong. It’s hard to contain her. And we didn’t get position a few times inside on Quinn and she takes advantage of that every time.”
Chesley added that he put Bouchard on Streams because Bouchard is his best defensive player “but Hope got into foul trouble and had to play off her a little bit.”
Bangor manufactured a 33-20 lead with 3:30 left in the first half but the Bulldogs impressively climbed back into the game by scoring the final 12 points of the half to trail by just one at the intermission.
Senior forward Elizabeth Crommett had six of the 12 points, senior forward Brianna Poulin had four and Bouchard started the flurry with a nice runner in the lane.
One of the reasons the Bulldogs were able to hang in with the Rams was the production they received from their bench.
Lawrence’s non-starters outscored Bangor’s 12-0.
Quinn gave the Rams the lead for good with a traditional 3-point play with 2:40 left in the third period. Cassidy Ireland fed her underneath for another basket in the paint and, after Ali Higgins stole an inbounds pass and went the length of the floor for a layup, Taylor Coombs scored off an offensive rebound to enable Bangor to take a 46-41 lead into the fourth quarter.
Bouchard, who had sat out the final 5:51 of the third quarter, came back in the fourth and hit a floater in the lane and two free throws before passing to Higgins for a 3-pointer that cut the lead to 54-48.
After the teams swapped baskets, Bangor sewed up the win with six free throws over the final 1:36.
“I always say the seniors lead you and they did tonight. It was a great win,” said Bangor coach Jay Kemble.
In addition to Quinn and Streams, senior guard Cassidy Ireland chipped in with 10 points and two rebounds and senior forward Coombs had six points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists.
Bouchard had seven rebounds to go with her 14 points. Senior guard Higgins finished with 10 points, as did Poulin. Poulin also grabbed four rebounds. Freshman guard Madalyn Provost netted eight points and two rebounds off the bench and Crommett had six points and three rebounds.
“Bangor is a great team. They’re very aggressive,” Chesley said. “I was proud of the way our girls battled back in the first half. But they didn’t have much left for the second half.”
“They’re a good team,” said Streams, who was a teammate of Bouchard’s on the Maine REACT AAU team last summer. “It’s always fun playing them. We match up well with them. We’re both guard-heavy. [Bouchard] is so good. She’s so much fun to play with.”
Both teams are legitimate contenders in their respective classes. Both have elite point guards in Streams and Bouchard, good shooting guards in Ireland and Higgins, and quality post players in Quinn and Lawrence’s Poulin and Nadia Morrison, who had four rebounds and two assists off the bench to go with a basket.
Lawrence has impressive depth led by Provost, and Bangor has two productive starters in Coombs and sophomore guard Ayzlynn Gifford.
Both teams return to action on Tuesday. Bangor travels to Hampden Academy for a 5 p.m. game and Lawrence heads to Skowhegan for a 6 p.m. contest.
