PARIS — When Oxford Hills’ offense gets going and its shots are going in the hoop, there isn’t much an opposing defense can do.
Bangor exchanged blows with the Vikings in the first quarter Saturday, but after that didn’t have enough to keep up. Oxford Hills took over in the second quarter and pulled away to earn another big Class AA North girls basketball win, beating the Rams 65-46 on Saturday.
“At the end of the day, if all of our kids are scoring — I felt like everybody was a scoring threat — it makes us really hard to defend,” Vikings coach Nate Pelletier said.
Oxford Hills’ Sierra Carson led all scorers with 25 points. She was held to two free throws in the first quarter, then scored seven points in the second, eight in the third and eight in the fourth.
“Sierra’s been playing like that for the last couple games,” Pelletier said. “We’ve been waiting for it. She’s just getting primed for playoffs. I don’t think you’ve seen everything yet. She’s amazing and she does everything we need her to do. She’s just a tough guard. I wouldn’t want to guard her, and it makes it really, really hard and puts stress on teams.
“As long as she keeps rolling, we’re going to be good.”
Tristen Derenburger made four 3-pointers and finished with 16 points, and Ella Pelletier added 12 for Oxford Hills (15-1).
Oxford Hills also beat Bangor 39-34 in Bangor on Jan. 24 — the Rams’ first loss of the season. Saturday’s matchup was played more like the fast, high-scoring pace the Vikings strive for.
“They just outplayed us today,” Bangor coach Jay Kemble said. “They did everything well. They transitioned offensively well, they rebounded well. They beat us in all components of the game, so you’ve got to give them credit for doing that.”
Emmie Streams, who has committed to play at the University of Maine next year, led Bangor (13-3) with 21 points.
The teams traded scoring runs in the opening quarter. Oxford Hills scored eight straight points, aided by four free throws, to go up 8-2, but Bangor finished the first period with its own 8-0 streak to build a 10-8 lead.
The Rams didn’t have an answer in the second quarter.
Derenburger opened the period with her first 3-pointer and Pelletier scored in the post, giving the Vikings five straight points and a 13-10 lead.
After Streams scored to get Bangor within one point, Gabby Tibbetts kick-started another Vikings 8-0 run with a 3-pointer.
The sophomore scored seven points and was an all-around contributor off the bench.
“I thought she had an amazing game,” Nate Pelletier said. “She played within herself, she tried to go to the basket when she could, she distributed the ball really well — I mean, that’s exactly what we’re looking for out of her. It was a great game.”
Carson noted that Tibbetts has been more comfortable on the floor lately. Tibbetts said that she is trying to be a spark when she enters the game.
“Me and Ashley Richardson come off the bench as, like, sixth and seventh man,” Tibbetts said. “We’re always told then when we come off the bench, we need to be that next energy, the new energy that’s coming in — tired people come out, new energy has to come in. Me and Ash really change the momentum of the game when we come in.”
Tibbetts’ trey was followed by five straight points from Carson, and the Vikings’ lead was 21-12.
Bangor’s next basket, a 3 by Cassidy Ireland was answered by five consecutive Oxford Hills points — a Derenburger 3 and Carson’s sixth and seventh points of the quarter — that made the score 26-15.
Carson said that she tried to be more aggressive after the first quarter.
“Honestly, just the mentality of trying to get to the rim,” she said, later adding, “It was just really taking advantage of what we could, either posting up, or it’s those screens, trying to get by, or since Emmie’s, like, smaller, trying to just get inside.
Streams added a free throw with two seconds left in the first half to get the Rams within 10 points at the break, but that was as close as they’d get the remainder of the game. Carson scored the first five points of the third quarter, and Oxford Hills maintained a 15- to 19-point lead the rest of the way.
Carson, who has committed to play at Dartmouth next year, made a pair of 3-pointers in the third, but a lot of her second-half points were scored in the post or after grabbing offensive rebounds.
“She’s just an athlete,” Kemble said. “She’s physically strong, she’s extremely explosive, she can shoot from the outside. You close out too hard, she’ll shot-fake and beat you.
“She’s just an incredible, incredible player. And she’s got some length to her, which, you know, a couple of times they posted her up. She’s just a talent.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
