HAMPDEN, Maine — Points were hard to come by in a scrappy Class A North girls’ basketball game between Hampden Academy and Camden Hills of Rockport at the Hampden Academy gym on Thursday afternoon.
The Broncos received a game-high 21 points from senior guard Lucy Wiles, including 15 in the second half, and the Broncos outscored Camden Hills 10-2 over the final 5:35 to emerge with a hard-fought 38-32 victory.
The Broncos, playing their first game since Dec. 12, improved to 2-1 while the youthful Windjammers, with just one senior and seven sophomores and a freshman on their roster, fell to 3-4 after losing for the third time in four games.
Wiles had five rebounds to go with her 21 points. Senior forward Lauren Voteur contributed seven points, four rebounds and two blocked shots and junior forward Caitlyn Murphy had five points and two rebounds.
Sophomore guard Leah Jones paced Camden Hills with 12 points and three rebounds. Fellow sophomore guard Maddison Cronkite had six points, two rebounds and two steals; junior forward Rose Tohanczyn produced four points and a game-high 11 rebounds and senior guard Kristen Jones, Leah’s sister, had four points and eight rebounds.
It was a see-saw affair in which each team played tenacious defense while the offenses struggled to the tune of a combined 29.7 shooting percentage from the floor. There were also a bunch of turnovers.
The Broncos trailed 30-28 with 5:35 to go when freshman Aubrey Shaw and senior Destiny Mooers worked a nifty give-and-go resulting in Mooers’ layup for her only points of the game to tie it up.
Wiles gave the Broncos the lead for good with 3:18 remaining by nailing an open 3-pointer from the top of the key off a neat passing sequence involving Shaw and Lauren Voteur. Shaw passed to Voteur, who quickly found the open Wiles on the right side.
“That was probably our best possession of the game,” said Wiles, who will play basketball at the University of Southern Maine next season. “Our ball reversal forced them to shift multiple different ways and they couldn’t react fast enough (to cover me).”
Hampden Academy was able to work the ball around and run off some time but the Broncos also turned the ball over as did the Windjammers.
The Broncos blocked a shot and junior Caitlyn Murphy expanded the lead to 34-30 with a free throw with 51.7 seconds left.
Sophomore Leah Jones ended a Camden Hills scoreless drought of 4:37 with a runner from the lane to cut it to 34-32 with 38 seconds remaining.
But Wiles sank two free throws eight seconds later and Murphy added two more.
Wiles sank all four of her free throws in the second half after missing all five in the first half.
“I’ve never shot that badly in my life,” said Wiles. “I’m usually 9-for-10 or 8-for-10 in practice. But I knew they really, really counted in the second half, especially at the end, so I took my time and followed the routine I do every time.”
Hampden Academy coach Nick Winchester said they devised some tactics to get Wiles open shots in the second half.
“We ran a lot of ball screens and that enabled me to get post players guarding me instead of guards and that really helped me,” explained Wiles.
Winchester said they are going to have to find different ways to win games this season.
“We got the shots we wanted in the first half but we didn’t make any of them. We were good defensively throughout the game. We held them to 17 points in the first half and 15 in the second half. That helped out a lot. But we need more consistent (offensive) production,” said Winchester.
He noted that they hadn’t played in two weeks so it was like opening night all over again.
“I’m happy with the win. That’s the most important thing,” he said.
Camden Hills coach Samantha Bragg thought her team played a good game.
“We played real well, defensively, and we rebounded real well. Offensively, we attacked the glass well but didn’t make as many shots as we would have liked,” said Bragg.
Camden Hills outrebounded HA 31-24.
Wiles was impressed by the Windjammers.
“Props to them. They’re pretty young so the next couple of years are going to be really good seasons for them. That was a tough game, a tough battle,” said Wiles.
Both teams will play on Saturday afternoon as Hampden Academy will host Cony of Augusta at 1:30 while Camden Hills will travel to Farmington for a 12:30 p.m. game against Mt. Blue.