BANGOR- Seven of the nine players that played on Friday afternoon would score, and the Penobscot Valley High School Howlers (PVHS) used a strong defensive effort to knock off the Hodgdon Hawks 42-26 in a Maine Principals’ Association Class C girls semifinal game played at the Cross Insurance Center.
PVHS jumped out right away to a 9-0 lead, and they held Hodgdon to just a late Sadie Thompson three-pointer in the first quarter for an 11-3 advantage after eight minutes. The Howlers went up as many as 14 in the second, but another three-pointer by Thompson made it 20-9 at halftime. Hawks leading scorer Anna Oliver was held to just a pair of free throws for two points in the opening half. #3 Hodgdon had a chance to get the deficit into single digits a couple times in the third quarter, but couldn’t do so and eight points in the period by Kaya Loring had the lead back to 31-17 heading to the fourth. #2 PVHS would pull away in the final eight minutes, building it to as many as 19 points in moving on to face Dexter in the regional final on Saturday night at 7 p.m.
Kaya Loring led the scorers in the win with 12 points, four rebounds, and two steals. Ellie Austin had 10 points and four rebounds before fouling out in the fourth quarter. Holly Loring added nine points, five rebounds, and four steals. Also scoring for the 19-1 Howlers was Lila Cummings with four points, Ashlyn St. Cyr with three, and Rylee Moulton along with Lauren Veino with two points a piece. PVHS shot 9-19 from the foul line. Oliver ended up scoring eight points and five rebounds in the loss for Hodgdon. Thompson had six points, and Meghan Peters contributed with five points. Along in the scorebook was Marissa Dow, Lexi Rackliff, and Vickie Porter with two points each. Grace Little added one free throw, as the Hawks went 8-10 from the charity stripe in ending their season with an 18-2 record.
Recap by Chris Lessner/Photos by Anthony DelMonaco/Videos by Gabe Nason
