BANGOR – She couldn’t hit another one, could she?

Caroline Weymouth had already drilled one 3-pointer from the top of the key late in Friday afternoon’s Eastern A quarterfinal. When she pulled back to let another one fly in the final minute, the Lewiston girls’ basketball team held its breath.

As smoothly as the first one fell, Weymouth’s second 3-pointer hit nothing but net to give Bangor the lead again with 32 seconds to play. Lewiston couldn’t overcome that dagger and subsequently fell 48-46 at the Bangor Auditorium.

“I just kind of felt like I was open,” said Weymouth. “So I just put it up there. Hey, why not try another. It can’t hurt.”

It didn’t feel good for the No. 3 Blue Devils (16-4). Lewiston had overcome a seven-point deficit in the second half and had tied the game with 1:21 left. After Weymouth’s first trey put Bangor up 43-40 with 2:20 remaining, Katie Morin hit a 3-pointer from the corner to tie it. Tracy Bradley then sank a free throw to give Lewiston a 44-43 lead with less than a minute remaining.

“We didn’t play very well,” said Lewiston coach Jim Hood. “We came out and tried hard and everything. It was a two-hour bus trip. I don’t know if the kids were ready to come out. We played awfully stiff out there. Anytime we score in the 50s, we’re not playing as well as we can play.”

Weymouth finished with 14 points for Bangor. Laura Clarke added 11 and Serena Dubois chipped in with 10. Morin led Lewiston with 15 points, while Amanda Bryant had 12 and Bradley 10.

Lewiston was plagued by turnovers and missed shots. The Blue Devils never got its running game going, and the sixth-seeded Rams (16-4) did a nice job handling Lewiston’s press.

“That’s one thing we really felt we had to do,” said Bangor coach Tom Tennett. “We didn’t let them get up and run. They’re so athletic. I think we got back pretty well defensively and took them out of the flow of what they wanted to do.”

Bangor had seen the tape of the Lewiston-Hampden regular-season game and recognized that when Hampden went to the zone, Lewiston struggled against it.

“I’ll give Bangor credit,” said Hood. “They played well. They pressed us on the zone attack, and we never really got over the top of that heap.”

After a back-and-forth opening half, Bangor used a 9-2 run to start the third when Lewiston missed its first seven shots. Lewiston trimmed that lead in the final quarter and tied it at 38-38 with baskets by Varney, Bryant and Bradley. After a Clarke drive and two free throws by Morin, Bangor called time out. The intention was to get the ball inside to Dubois. But if she was covered, the Rams would look to Weymouth or Clarke to drive to the basket. As it turned out, Weymouth was open at the arch and hit the 3-pointer.

“It’s not the shot we drew up, but we’ll take it,” said Tennett.

Lewiston, however, answered. After Morin hit a 3-pointer from the corner, Bradley rebounded a Bangor miss and was fouled. She hit the second of two with 59 seconds to play to give Lewiston the lead.

Bangor raced down the court and tried to set up a similar play as before, settling again for a Weymouth trey. The Rams added to the lead with two Dubois free throws. After Bryant followed up a miss with six seconds to play, Varney threw up a bid from halfcourt following a missed free throw but couldn’t connect.

“We came back,” said Hood. “There were some things that we could have done a little better. They took some things away from us, and I think we took some things away from them. Hopefully, we’ll learn from this, and it will be a learning experience.”

kmills@sunjournal.com

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