ROCKPORT — The Camden Hills girls basketball team hosted rival Oceanside Tuesday night in what came down to the final 32 seconds of play to decide the game with the Windjammers pulling out a 56-54 win over the Mariners.

Charlotte Messer brought the ball down the court with the game tied at 54-54 and pulled up just inside the three point arc with a jump shot with 31.4 seconds left in the fourth quarter and nailed it to give the Windjammers a two point lead. After an Oceanside timeout, the Mariners took the ball down the court looking for the tying score, moving the ball around looking for the opening they wanted when a shot attempt was made that Rachel Pease was able to swat away with two seconds on the clock into the hands of Windjammer Hannah Wincklhofer who took a dribble and fired the ball downcourt to Messer as the buzzer sounded and the Windjammers took the win to the locker room.

Both teams were playing this game without a full deck as Camden Hills was without the services of senior Annie Young who has been playing very well in her leadership role as tri-captain on the team and the Mariners again lost playmaker McKenna Brooks in the first quarter to a previous ankle injury. Brooks came out on fire in the start of the game, but soon realized what she probably knew anyway, the ankle was just not ready. She did not return.

Oceanside took a 15-11 first quarter lead and a 31-27 advantage into the half time break.

At the end of the third quarter, the Mariners were up 47-43 in a game that had many lead changes take place.

In the final stanza, the Windjammers would not go away as they had not all game. The largest lead in the game was six points as these two very equal teams battled to the end much to the delight of the small, but excited crowd on hand as they watched Camden Hills capture the win.

The win over previously unbeaten Oceanside moved the Windjammers into first place in the Heal Point standings for Eastern Class B with a 3-1 record. The loss dropped Oceanside to second place with an identical record of 3-1.

One of the big draws of this game being played at Camden Hills is that both teams, Camden and Oceanside are coached by two standout alumni of the Windjammers, with Meg Cressler coaching Camden and Samantha Wiley coaching the Mariners. That act alone brought out some of the many parents and coaches of the two women to witness them coaching against each other for the first time.

Both coaches are in their first year at their respective jobs.

The guard duo of Messer and Maddie Bowman were on fire with both scoring 16 points each to lead the Windjammers; Eliza Boetsch and Pease nine each; and Wincklhofer and Mara Dostie three each to round out the scoring.

Camden Hills was 11-of-17 (65 percent) from the foul line and knocked down three, 3-pointers, Messer (2) and Bowman one.

Messer was on fire from outside all night, missing a number of shots one could count on one hand. Bowman did what she does with the best of the players in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference, take the ball to the basket with an uncanny ability to move around a player in the air drawing the foul and finishing many of her shots.

For Oceanside, Emily Gould led the Mariners with 14 points; Brianna Dugan 13; Payton Billingsley nine; Caitlin Raye seven; Ashley Gardner five; and Kalyn Grover, Brooks and Ari Curtis two each.

Oceanside was 10-of-18 (56 percent) from the foul line and they had four 3-pointers, two from Dugan and one each from Billingsley and Gould.

Billingsley really stepped up her game with the absence of Brooks as she tried to not only run the floor, but make up some of the scoring options the Mariners have when Brooks is on the floor.

The big difference in the game came down to size, specifically the 6’2” presence of Windjammer center Rachel Pease along with 5’10” Eliza Boetsch, who is a very long 5’10” player. Oceanside’s tallest player is listed at 5’10” in Alexis Davis, a senior player off the bench. The size difference resulted in Oceanside players getting fouls, especially on Boetsch, who went 5-of-7 from the foul line and Pease dominating the boards.

Caitlin Raye may have played her best game ever for the Mariners as she was very aggressive on the boards, boxing out Pease and Boetsch often, allowing herself to grab a rebound or just keeping those opponents at bay so that a teammate could gather the rebound. Her work under the basket on both ends of the floor helped keep the Mariners in the game throughout.

Neither team has faced off against undefeated Medomak Valley (4-0) yet, Oceanside will play them first when they host the Panthers Dec. 22 and Camden Hills will host them on Jan. 6.

In the meantime, next up for the Windjammers will be Belfast on the road Thursday, Dec. 18 and for the Mariners, they will travel to Erskine Academy of South China Friday, Dec. 19.

Click here for a photo gallery from this event.

Results should be sent to sports@penbaypilot.com

Ron Hawkes can be reached at hawkesnews@gmail.com