AUGUSTA — Whatever the scouting report on the Hampden Academy girls’ basketball team, there’s undoubtedly one line that is underlined in red ink, marked with a yellow highlighter pen, circled and surrounded by asterisks and exclamation points.
Don’t. Give. Those. Shooters. Any. Space.
It all sounded good to Messalonskee and everyone else in Eastern Class A this winter — until they realized how far down the depth chart that warning prevailed. Basically, if one of the Broncos has “guard” next to her name in the program, you’d better take it literally.
Five different players hit No. 3 Hampden’s nine 3-pointers Tuesday night, breaking open a close regional championship game and leading to a 62-40 rout of No. 8 Messalonskee at Augusta Civic Center.
Hampden (19-2) handled Messalonskee (11-10) for the third time this winter and stormed into its first Class A final since 1976. Hampden will face Catherine McAuley here at 4 p.m., on Saturday.
Julia Snyder scored 10 of her game-high 17 points in the third quarter for Hampden. Katelyn DeRaps scored six of her 12 on three straight drives to end the first half, boosting the Broncos to a 22-16 advantage at the break.
Michaela Stephenson scored all of 11 of her points in the second half and won the Bob Whytock Award as tournament MVP.
Helene Sherburne and Ellie Webb gave Hampden a boost from its bench, hitting 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to key a 19-5 closing surge.
Mary Badeen led Messalonskee with 11 points and two of her team’s five 3-pointers. Megan Pelletier added 10 points and six rebounds for the Eagles, who previously upset No. 1 Morse and No. 4 Cony and were bidding to become the first No. 8 seed to reach the Class A girls’ title game.
Comments are no longer available on this story