By Gloria Austin
Staff Writer
The Southern Aroostook girls are currently sitting in sixth place of the Heal Point standings with a 3-2 record. But, last week, the Katahdin girls and the Ashland Hornets both stayed within striking distance of Southern Aroostook, testing the Lady Warriors’ fortitude.
Last Wednesday, Katahdin couldn’t overtake their opponent, as the Lady Warriors took a 52-41 win.
“We have held on to two close games,” said SACS coach Cliff Urquhart. “In Katahdin, we took an early lead and then let it slip away. But, we maintained control despite Katahdin knocking down some big shots and doing a good job keeping it close.”
The Lady Warriors led 16-8 to start the game and held a 23-17 halftime advantage. After playing three quarters, SACS led 34-26. But, Southern Aroostook’s Olivia Raymond put together a strong fourth quarter, scoring seven of her 13 points to push her team to victory. Jasmine Rockwell tossed in 13 points, as well, while Shelby Hartin and Kaitlyn Sommers each had 12 points.
Megan Merry was the sharpshooter for Katahdin, scoring a game-high 15 points, while Bailey McNally added nine points and Morgan Livezey chipped in with eight more.
In the junior varsity game, SACS won 31-19.
Last Friday, the Lady Warriors narrowly defeated host Ashland, 39-36, which was a far cry from the first meeting between the teams when SACS pulled off a 39-point win. Urquhart and company knew the second game would probably not have the same result.
“We needed to maintain the same fire we had in our first meeting,” Urquhart said. “Ashland did a good job of taking away the paint area. We gave up a ton of points in transition early.”
The Hornets led 14-9 to open the game and held a 26-17 halftime advantage. In the third, the Lady Warriors’ offense came to life, as they outscored Ashland, 17-4 to take a 34-30 lead en route to the win.
“We made some halftime adjustments and had a good third quarter and held them off in the fourth,” Urquhart said. “We never really got it going offensively.”
Rockwell scored seven of her 14 points in the pivotal third quarter, while Sommers had six of her 12 points in the quarter, as well. Raymond finished the game adding eight points.
In the junior varsity game, SACS won 38-21.
Urquhart has been pleased with his team’s composure over the last two games.
“Playing in close games is something that they are not entirely used to doing” he said. “It’s always good to have a few under your belt going forward with the rest of the year.”
Urquhart said his team has had some time off during the holiday break, so they may “take awhile to get back” to where they were at, he said.
The Lady Warriors are struggling offensively, especially from the line where Urquhart said his team hasn’t shot above 50 percent in a game this season. They aren’t playing their best defense either, said Urquhart, due to mental mistakes and lack of communication. Yet another blow struck the team before the break when a knee injury to 5-10 freshman power forward Sable Altvater sidelined her.
“I’m not sure on her return,” said Urquhart. “She had been doing a nice job averaging around 10 to 12 points and 10 to 12 rebounds per game this year.”
But, the good news is the Lady Warriors are over .500 on the season.
“I think we can make a run at postseason play if we continue to play team basketball,” Urquhart said.