By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

BANGOR – What glimmer of hope the Lewiston Blue Devils had against the unbeaten Cony Rams may have evaporated in a hurry Saturday.

The defending Eastern A champs came out firing against the Blue Devils and put Lewiston in a significant hole early. A 16-point lead in the first quarter was too much for eighth-ranked Lewiston in a 67-50 defeat in the Eastern A quarterfinal at the Bangor Auditorium.

“They’ve got size everywhere, and we don’t have it,” said Lewiston coach Jim Hood. “We tried to play down low a little bit and tried to stack it, and they hit the first five or six possessions in a row from all over the place. We were missing. So then all of a sudden, it was 15-0 or 15-2, and you’re in a hole and trying to come back.”

The Rams, boasting three players taller than 6 feet, opened the game with 10 straight points and were up 17-2 before Caitlin Anthoine gave Lewiston its first field goal with 1:42 left in the quarter.

“Getting a big lead is good,” said Cony center Katie Rollins. “We try to come out strong and prove a point right in the first quarter.”

After building a 23-5 lead in the first eight minutes, the Rams (19-0) scored 14 straight to start the second quarter, part of a 20-0 run. Though Lewiston (12-8) had hoped to defend the post as Dirigo did against Dexter in the Class C state championship game Friday night, the Rams had the perimeter prowess to answer that. Even 6-foot-1 forward Cassie Cooper drilled a 3-pointer in the first quarter.

“We’re just not big enough,” said Hood. “Unlike Dexter, they kick it out, and the girls are shooting. He doesn’t have many weak links on that team.”

Cooper led the Rams with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Rollins finished with 16 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals. Lewiston got a fine outing from Tracy Bradley with 18 points while Anthoine had eight.

Cooper had 11 points in the first 11 minutes as the Rams built the 30-point lead. Rollins had 10 while six Rams overall chipped in as Cony’s opening blitz overwhelmed the Blue Devils.

“When everyone’s clicking, it’s amazing,” said Rollins. “You can feel it. If we get the ball inside the post, you can make a move and if you’re double-teamed, you can get it back out and we can hit the 3.”

Any hope Lewiston had of keeping pace early was quickly gone. The Blue Devils were down 45-14 at the half. Lewiston had hit just 3-of-19 from the floor and turned the ball over nearly 20 times in the first half.

“We needed to stay in a four or six-point game, where we could always come back,” said Hood, whose team lost to Cony 74-43 in the regular season.

Lewiston got seven points from Bradley in the third quarter and cut the deficit down to 57-28 in the third quarter. Bradley and Anthoine helped spark Lewiston to 11 straight points in the fourth to trim it to 64-45.

“I told them at halftime, We’re out here now and we’re going to play basketball,'” said Hood. “‘We’re going to see how much we can improve and see how much we can do. We’ll play from there and make sure when you leave here, you say you gave you’re all and leave here with a little bit of respect.’ I think we did that.”