AUGUSTA — Try as they might, Skowhegan could not keep up with the Joneses on Friday night.

Sophomore Leah Jones scored 11 points and older sister Kirsten Jones, the team’s lone senior, added seven as Camden Hills shut down Skowhegan 43-21 in a Class A North girls basketball quarterfinal at the Augusta Civic Center.

The Windjammers (14-5), who went 3-0 against their Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference rivals this season, will face No. 1 Lawrence in the semifinals at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Although the sisters are each listed as 5-foot-6, they played much taller than their height, pouncing for rebounds and loose balls left and right. Leah Jones had seven rebounds while Kirsten had five, and each added a steal.

“I’m not sure you’ll find two tougher kids that are, a lot of times, outsized,” Camden Hills coach Samantha Bragg said. “They work hard on both ends of the floor. Kirsten gives us that advantage. By looking at her, the stats say she’s not tall, but she’s one of our best rebounders on the floor.”

The Joneses say their gritty style is part of their DNA.

“I fell like Camden’s always been known for our scrappiness,” Kirsten Jones said. “We worked really hard to make sure we’re in shape enough so that we go for every ball, go for every steal. We just have that intensity that not every team can bring to the floor.”

Added Leah: “We make sure what we lack in height, we make up for in intensity.” 

Freshman Thea Laukka scored 10 points for Camden Hills.

Camden Hills forward Tallulah Marks, left, tries to block a shot by Skowhegan’s Natalie Cooke during a Class A North girls basketball quarterfinal game Friday at the Augusta Civic Center. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

On the other sideline, Skowhegan (9-10) worked hard, but the River Hawks’ shots refused to find the basket. Although they trailed 8-4 after one quarter and 17-8 at halftime, they were still within striking distance. But the Windjammers gradually pulled away with an 11-3 third quarter. By the time Skowhegan found a shooting groove in the fourth, it was too late.

“We didn’t pick a very good day not to shoot the ball very well, but I thought we played well in the second half and at least played hard,” Skowhegan coach Mike LeBlanc said. “We just couldn’t make a shot, and hats off to them defensively. They put the clamps down on us and we knew they were going to be aggressive.”

Annabelle Morris led Skowhegan with eight points, and her eight rebounds tied Natalie Cookie for the team high.

The game was scoreless until Kirsten Jones found the basket with 4 minutes, 33 seconds left in the first quarter. In the second, the sisters teamed up when Leah Jones grabbed a rebound and found Kirsten for the basket to give Camden Hills a 15-6 lead in the second.

“We’re pretty young,” Bragg said. “It’s not a high school gym; it’s a tough place to shoot and score. So we talked a lot about how it has to be our defense if those shots don’t go down for us early on.”

The Windjammers scored the first 11 points of the third quarter, five coming from Laukka. Skowhegan’s Morris broke the drought with a 3-pointer with 1:29 left.

Kirsten Jones made her presence felt again in the fourth, when she grabbed a rebound and fired a long pass to Laukka for the layup and a 33-11 advantage.

Skowhegan, which won the 2022 Class A title, fell in the quarterfinals for the second straight season.

“If you had told me we were going to win nine games, I would have told you you’re crazy,” LeBlanc said. “Even though we had four starters back, I knew what the other teams in the league had, athletically. I thought we competed most of the games we were in. That’s all I could ask for.”

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