Hornets lose in prelim

Hornets lose in prelim

    JONESPORT — Hopes of making it to the Bangor Auditorium were dashed for the Ashland girls basketball team Tuesday when the No. 9 Hornets took on No. 8 Jonesport-Beals. 

    Jonesport-Beals advanced to face No. 1 Central Aroostook (16-2) on Monday in the quarterfinals.
    Adrianna Paradis led Ashland (8-11) with 15 points, 11 rebounds and three steals, while Jessica Jimmo had 12 points; Taylor Baker, five; Jade Tilley, three; and Brooke LaBelle and Whitney Donovan, two each.
    For the Royals (10-9), Maegan Alley netted a game-high 17 points.
    Ashland trailed by six with just over a minute to play when Jimmo, a senior, scored the team’s final four points. Jimmo had a hot hand in the fourth quarter, scoring eight of her 12 points in that period.
    Ashland coach Kevin Paradis said the Royals did a good job handling the ball and rebounding throughot the contest.
    “We were pretty evenly matched,” coach Paradis said. “We actually won three of the four quarters, but it was the second quarter that killed us.”
    Ashland was outscored 15-8 in the second quarter, creating a 25-20 halftime deficit for the Hornets.
    Paradis said the Royals struggled against Ashland’s 1-3-1 defense. Jonesport used a 1-2-1-1 full-court defense against the Hornets that did not pose too many problems for Ashland.
    “They did however give us problems with what I think was a 3-2 half-court trap,” Paradis said. “They used this late in the first half and almost all the second half. We had good success against their 3-2 (non-trapping) zone. We were able to get the ball in and draw some fouls early.”
    The coach added that Adrianna Paradis, a sophomore, played “her best game of the year” matching a career high in points.
    “Yes, I’m sure you can tell I was a proud Dad,” the coach said. “Another great performance for us was Jessica Jimmo. Jessica has been playing with pain due to a knee injury all year. I was very proud of her gutsy fourth quarter performance.”