John Bapst girls use full-court press to top Ponies

BANGOR — The John Bapst High School girls basketball team unveiled a relentless full-court press under first-year head coach Chris Woodside and it paid huge dividends in their mutual season opener against Class B North runner-up Foxcroft Academy.

The Crusaders forced 17 first-half turnovers which helped them build a 33-15 halftime lead and they withstood a second-half rally by the gritty and youthful Ponies to earn a 58-42 victory at the Cross Insurance Center Saturday, Dec. 9.

Grace Philippon scored a game-high 19 points and made seven steals and fellow senior Caleigh Bell tallied 10 points to pace the Crusaders.

Crystal Bell contributed seven points, four steals and four rebounds and Tia Zephir finished with seven points and five rebounds for John Bapst. Freshman Lacey Scanlon came off the bench to score six points and grab a team-high six rebounds. Abbey Legasse had four steals to go with four points.

Junior Cailin Seavey (5 assists, 4 steals) and sophomore Cassidy Marsh each netted 10 points for the Ponies and senior Avery Nelson (5 rebounds) and freshman Ainsley Ade provided nine apiece.

Blake Smith’s Ponies were without the only returning starter from last year’s 16-5 team, Makenzie Beaudry, who is sidelined with an ankle injury.

“We’ve been working on our press a lot in practice and we’ve focused on improving our defense this year,” said Bell. “Our communication on defense is well improved.”

“We’re playing more uptempo this year and that’s how we all like to play. We’re all really fast. We’re more aggressive and it pays off,” said Philippon.

“Their press hurt us a lot,” said Smith.

“We didn’t play very well against it,” said Seavey. “We got rushed by their intensity.”

The Crusaders also outrebounded the smaller Ponies 26-18.

“It’s a game of possessions and if you have more possessions than the other team, you’re usually going to win,” said Woodside. “And if you win the rebounding battle, you’re going to get extra possessions and second-chance shots. I thought we did that real well today. We had 14 offensive rebounds.”

After spotting the Ponies the game’s first basket, John Bapst rattled off the next 10 points to take a lead it would never relinquish. Philippon and Lebel each had four points during the 10-0 run.

The Ponies did score the next seven points to pull to within one, but the Crusaders closed out the quarter with five straight points capped by Philippon’s steal and jumper at the buzzer.

John Bapst outscored the turnover-prone Ponies 14-2 to finish out the second quarter and take the 18-point lead into the intermission.

John Bapst had 33 shot attempts in the first half while holding Foxcroft to only 19.

The Crusaders expanded the lead to 41-19 in the third quarter and seemingly had the game locked up.

But Seavey rallied the Ponies as they outscored John Bapst 21-8 to pull within 49-40 with four minutes remaining.

Seavey, who didn’t play in the second quarter due to foul trouble, scored eight points and dished out three assists during the flurry.

But Legasse drove the lane and split two defenders before laying the ball in to trigger a run of nine straight points that sewed up the win.

“They’re a very mentally tough team,” said Woodside. “A lot of teams down by 22 points would have folded. But they battled and battled and battled and that says a lot about their toughness. And they were without their best player.”

“I was very proud of them. They never laid down. They kept battling,” said Smith.