Bangor – The one key factor for the Hermon girls basketball team in it’s match up with John Bapst on Saturday night was to be able to contain Emily Tilton and limit her scoring opportunities. A good idea, but that woulod not be the case as Tilton poured in a game high 21 points to lead the Crusaders to a 41-36 victory over the Hawks at the Bangor Auditorium.
John Bapst's Emily Tilton (10) looks to take a shot over Hermon defender Lindsay Hawes during the first half of Saturday night's game at the Bangor Auditorium. John Bapst won the game 41-36. Photo by Skip Hawkes
After a quiet first half with the Crusaders holding a 16-15 lead at half time, things heated up in the third quarter. Tilton scored nine points in the third period as Bapst opened up a 29-20 lead with a 13-5 score.
Early in the fourth quarter the Crusaders held an 11 point lead, but Hermon rallied back to cut the Bapst lead to just two points at 36-34 with just over a minute and a half left to play. With 40 seconds to go, Tilton scored on a layup to put Bapst up 38-34. Hermon’s Kaitlin Saulter took a return pass from Raychel Alley and put the ball in the hoop to cut the lead to 38-36 with 16.7 seconds left, but Tilton knocked down two free throws six seconds later to make it a four point game (40-36) with 10.8 seconds on the clock. Alley missed a 3-point shot with five seconds left and Bapst forward Darby Paul was fouled during the rebound action. Paul converted one of two free throws giving the Crusaders a 5-point advantage with 3.1 seconds left and no chance for the Hawks to recover.
Joining Tilton in scoring for John Bapst was Allison Higgins with 11 points and paige Martin with four points. Paul and Laine Ferrill each added two points, and Taylor True chipped in with one point.
The Crusaders had two 3-point baskets, one each by Tilton and Martin, and they went 13-for-30 (43%) from the foul line.
Alley scored 20 points to pace the Hawks in scoring. Britney Hamlin and Jenna Crouse each added five points. Saulter, Lindsay Hawes, and Mikayla Treadwell each had two points.
Hermon had three 3-point baskets, two by Alley and one by Crouse, and they went 11-for-23 (48%) from the charity stripe.
HERMON (8-5) 12 3 5 16 — 36
BAPST (6-6) 9 9 13 12 — 41
Click to view the Photo Gallery from the Varsity game
JV Game: Hermon 37, John Bapst 26
HERMON 7 8 8 14 — 37
BAPST 2 4 13 7 — 26
