Sports Editor
BANGOR — Young teams often experience bumps in the road when building a program. The Washburn girls basketball team learned this fact first-hand Monday and have the bruises to prove it.
No. 4 Washburn (13-6 overall) fell 41-26 to No. 5 Bangor Christian (16-3) Monday evening in an Eastern Class D quarterfinal game at the Bangor Auditorium. The Patriots advance to face No. 1 Central Aroostook Thursday at 8:35 p.m. in the semifinals.
Rebecca Campbell paced Washburn with 12 points, seven rebounds and three blocks, while Whitney Holmes led Bangor Christian with 26.
Washburn scored the game’s opening points when Rayah Saucier connected on a 6-foot jumper off the opening tip. The Beavers would not score again until Campbell drained a short jumper with 11 seconds remaining in the period.
Washburn’s defense held the Patriots to just five points in the quarter as the Beavers did an exceptional job of double-teaming the ball on every Bangor Christian possession. That aggressive defense, however, led to numerous fouls.
Rayah Saucier, Meghan Saucier and Jordan Chandler all fouled out for Washburn midway through the fourth quarter.
The Beavers seemed reluctant to shoot the ball in the first half, and as a result were only able to muster six points, resulting in a 20-6 halftime deficit.
“We didn’t take it to the rack,” Carlos said. “I think they realized they needed to do that more [in the second half]. We have no real slasher on the team, so it’s hard to take it to the hoop.”
Washburn did a better job of getting off shots in the second half, but those shots did not fall for the Beavers. Washburn was 11-for-40 (27 percent) from the floor and 4-for-15 (27 percent) from the foul line.
