BANGOR, Maine — The Washburn District High School girls basketball team’s march to the state championship game continued Saturday morning with another Eastern Maine Class D title. The Hawks provided little challenge to the defending state champs as the Beavers defeated No. 7 Hodgdon, 68-44.
Early on Hodgdon fought hard to hang with Washburn, but the relentless pressure and athleticism of the Beavers took a toll on the Hawks.
“I was confident that my girls would wear them down and that’s exactly what happened,” said Washburn coach Mike Carlos.
The Beavers outscored the Hawks 15-4 in the second quarter to go ahead 35-20 at the half.
Washburn pushed its lead to 20 points, 42-20, at 5:26 in the third quarter on a Carmen Bragg three-pointer.
“It is definitely a good feeling to be here for the second time and to take the title,” said Bragg, who praised her team’s defensive effort. “We love to run and cause as many turnovers as possible.”
The Beavers forced 23 Hodgdon miscues.
Sophomore forward Carsyn Koch said the team is very well grounded and knows what it takes to win.
We didn’t want to be cocky,” she said. “We wanted to make sure our heads were screwed on straight and we went out there and played good defense, passed the ball around and we won.”
Freshman guard Mackenzie Worcester scored a game-high 20 points for the Beavers. Koch chipped in with 17 points.
Junior center Olivia Doody also played a strong game, giving Washburn an inside presence. She chalked up 14 points.
Despite the biggest snowstorm of the season in the Washburn area the night before, the Beavers’ side of the Auditorium was three-quarters full for the 9:05 a.m. start.
“It was very encouraging for us to have such a big crowd rooting for us,” said junior guard Rayah Saucier. “It does lift us up.” She also gave credit to the cheerleaders for their contribution.
The state championship game is a repeat from last year. At 1:05 p.m. Saturday at the Augusta Civic Center the Beavers face Richmond.
Washburn beat the Spiders, 43-30, last winter.
“I am going through much tape as I can possibly watch and then we are going to get ready for them,” said Carlos. He also added the team was going to run, run and run some more to get prepared.
WASHBURN (68)
Saucier 0-2, 0-0 0, Blackstone-Thompson 0, Overman 3-8, 0-1 6, Koch 8-12, 3-6 19, C. Bragg 4-10, 0-0 9, Worcester 8-19, 2-2 20, Doody 6-8, 2-2 14, Coulombe 0, Heald 0, Olson 0, L. Bragg 0; TOTALS: 29-59, 7-11 68
HODGDON (44)
Fitzpatrick 1-3, 1-2 4, Harris 0-2, 0-0 0, Howell 0, Levesque 0-3, 0-0 0, Oliver 0, Wiley 0-8, 3-4 3, McQuarrie 5-9, 2-2 12, M. Gardiner 1-3, 0-4 2, H. Gardiner 4-6, 3-7 11, Steamer 6-7, 0-0 12; TOTALS: 17-41, 9-19 44
Hodgdon 16-4-11-13 — 44
Washburn 20-15-20-13 — 68
