The Bangor High School girls basketball team has never played in a AA North championship game, and the Rams will have another opportunity to do so when it takes on Oxford Hills in a AA North semifinal on Wednesday in Portland.
The fourth-seeded Rams advanced to the semifinals with a thrilling 37-36 victory over fifth seed Windham.
Bangor is now 13-6 while top seed Oxford Hills of South Paris, which earned a quarterfinal round bye, is 16-2. The teams will face each other at 2:45 p.m. on Wednesday at the Cross Insurance Arena.
The winner will face either defending state champ Cheverus of Portland, 14-5, or Edward Little of Auburn, 13-6, in Saturday’s 6 p.m. regional championship game.
Bangor and Oxford Hills teams split close regular season games with each winning at home.
Oxford Hills triumphed 47-43 on Dec. 10 with the Rams earning a 40-39 victory on Jan. 2.
Bangor has reached the semifinals the past five seasons but lost its semifinal matchup.
Oxford Hills beat Bangor 47-42 in the semis a year ago and also did so in 2022 and 2017.
Oxford Hills has won four AA North titles and three state crowns since the inception of the class in the 2015-16 season.
“It’s going to come down to who defends best in the half court,” said Bangor coach Jay Kemble. “They have got a couple of really talented players in (Ella) Pelletier and (Gabbie) Tibbettsand and some other kids who can do some good things. (Maddy) Herrick has a lot of experience.”
He said Bangor also has players “who can do some really good things.”
“Whoever makes the most stops in critical situations is going to come out on top,” added Kemble, who is in his sixth season at the helm.
Pelletier leads AA North in scoring and rebounding as she is averaging 24.3 points and 11.4 rebounds per regular season game.
She was a Bangor Daily News Schoolgirl All-Maine first team selection a year ago.
“Any time you get a kid who is 5-foot-11, six-feet tall that has the skills she has, you have to find ways to limit opportunities for her,” Kemble said. “But, at the same time, I really like our depth and ability to be able to rotate kids in and out.”
Kemble also mentioned the adjustment that comes with playing on a larger court, as his team moves from their home court to the Cross Insurance Arena.
“It’s going to be a little different because the court is 10 feet longer. We’ve been a full-court, man-to-man jump (pressing) team so if you add another 10 feet, it requires you to use more players,” explained Kemble.
Bangor senior starters Ayzlynn Gifford and Emily Adams are looking forward to the challenge.
“We played real well in the first game even though we lost to them,” said point guard Gifford. “We fixed our mistakes and were able to beat them in the second game.
“We can win as long as we play [good] defense, limit our turnovers and work as a team,” added Gifford, who missed last season due to knee surgery.
“We really know how they play,” said forward Adams. “We will have our defense down. We’re real good at guarding them. I think we will do well. We’ve been to the semifinals the last three years. We have nothing to lose.”
Gifford and Adams played key roles in Bangor’s win over Windham.
Gifford hit three 3-pointers including a key one late in the game and Adams sank the game-winning free throw with 2.9 seconds left.
Adams missed the first free throw but hit the second one.
She had been in a similar situation during a late-season regular season contest at Hampden Academy as the Rams trailed by one with 2.1 seconds left.
But Adams missed both and Hampden prevailed 39-37.
Adams said she “really wanted it” when she stepped to the foul line against Windham.
“My teammates were cooling me down on the foul line. It felt good when it went in,” said Adams.
“She looked good in her presentation and how she carried herself,” said Kemble. “She looked comfortable even though the first one rattled in and out.”
Kemble said Gifford has been a “big shot-maker all year long.”
“She hasn’t gotten the notoriety she deserves but, boy, when it comes to pressure at the end of a game when you need a shot or need a play, she has been there,” said Kemble. “The time we beat Oxford Hills, she had two great drives to the basket and she had some big shots in tight situations at Edward Little.”
Kemble said Gifford “got us jumpstarted the other night” against Windham with two 3-pointers in the first three and a half minutes of the game.
“She gave the team some excitement and got the crowd into it,” Kemble noted. “And she and Avery [Clark] hit two big threes towards the end of the game.”
Junior guard Clark is Bangor’s leading scorer and rebounder, averaging 15.1 points and 7.3 rebounds. She is AA North’s fourth-leading scorer and its number three rebounder. She is also second in the conference in steals with 3.1 per game and sixth in assists with 2.
Her 3.1 steals are second most behind junior teammate Dalaney Horr’s 3.2 steals.
Gifford is averaging 9.3 points, 2.6 assists and 2.2 steals. Horr has averaged 8.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists. She is second in assists in AA North.
Adams is averaging 5.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.6 assists.
To go with her points and rebounds, Pelletier has averaged 3.2 assists. 2.4 steals and 1.6 blocked shots.
Tibbetts has produced 12.8 points, 2.5 assists, 1.3 steals and her 2.4 3-pointers made per game is third most in AA North.
Oxford Hills’ Maddy Herrick has averaged 7.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.6 steals and 2 assists.
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