Preseason into regular season: Players working hard

The high school basketball season opened up Friday night for the 2014-15 season, with some lopsided scores, as new coaches train young players and veteran teams shake off the rust and want to establish themselves early, as teams all eye postseason play at the Cross Center in Bangor.
Monday night in Stacyville, the Katahdin Lady Cougars grabbed their season home-opening win, 62-25, over a youthful Hodgdon squad.
Courtney Stevens led the Lady Cougars with 19 points, while Molly Cunningham dropped in 18 points, while grabbing 10 offensive and seven defensive boards. Georgia Landry kicked in 12 points, while Natalie Rickards finished with 11 more for the winners.
For Hodgdon, 0-2, Taylor Desrosiers had 10 points.
On Friday night in Washburn, the four-time defending champions tromped the Lady Hawks, 98-12. Mackenzie Worcester tossed in a game-high 24 points. Grace Braley posted 20 points and Emmy Churchill added another 15 for the Beavers.
In Mars Hill, the Lady Panthers overpowered visiting Southern Aroostook, 63-43, in both teams’ mutual opener in girls basketball action.
Molly Anthony led the Lady Panthers with 21 points, while Karli Levesque tossed in 18 more and Kassidy Levesque added 11 points.
For Southern Aroostook, Kennedi Smith paced her team with 19 points, followed by Cassidy Lyons with nine and Megan Russell chipped in with eight.
Mars Hill grabbed an opening lead of 22-13 and held a halftime advantage of 37-23. In the third, Central Aroostook extended its lead 52-34.
On Friday in Danforth, the Lady Vikings earned their first win of the season, 54-42, over Woodland.
Allie McEwen was the game high-scorer with 21 points, while Sarah Stoddard tossed in 13. Hayleigh Shay and Chelsea Winiarski each dropped in eight points.
The East Grand girls took a 12-7 opening lead and held a 26-17 halftime advantage. In the third, East Grand went up 41-30 en route to the win.
In boys’ action Friday night, the Hawks hosted Katahdin and took a 60-37 win in the teams’ mutual opener.
The first quarter had Hodgdon in the lead, 15-12, but by halftime, the Hawks had opened up a 33-20 lead on a balanced scoring effort. After three, the Hawks held a 48-27 advantage.
Jimmy Buzzell led the Hawks with 13 points while Daden Palmer and Kevin McAfee each chipped in with 11 points. Caleb Dube and Devon Quint each had nine points in the game.
For Katahdin, T.J. Young finished with seven points and Devin McGraw had six points.
The Southern Aroostook boys ran rough shod over the visiting Central Aroostook Panthers on Friday night, picking up a 72-47 win.
The Warriors led 42-16 at halftime, as Nolan Altvater finished the night with 16 points; Jackson Mathers, 15 and Cameron Landry 13.
For Central Aroostook, Cameron Todd scored 11 points, while Riley McGrath tossed in 10 and Colby Kingsbury added six.
At Danforth, the East Grand Vikings fell behind by 10 points at halftime and could not recover, as Woodland took home the 58-31 victory.
Michael Grimanis paced Woodland with a 16-point effort and Justin Harriman brought down 11 rebounds.
For East Grand, Alex Stoddard dropped in 12 points.