The high school basketball season is entering the home stretch, with just under a month of games left to be played. The final countable day of regular season games is Feb. 5, although Feb. 6 may be used if needed for some makeup games. The preliminary playoffs for schoolgirl basketball are slated to begin Feb. 10, but if the two teams agree, they can also play on Feb. 9.
The semifinals at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor begin on Friday, Feb. 13 and several local squads are among those in the mix to make it to the big stage.
As of Tuesday morning, Houlton (10-1, 43.0556 Heal Points) was fifth in Eastern Class C behind top-ranked Piscataquis Community High School (12-2, 57.5926), No. 2 Narraguagus (9-4, 46.1964), No. 3 Dexter (12-2, 44.9383) and No. 4 Calais (11-2, 44.9346).
The Shires beat Calais in their first meeting at home and face the Blue Devils again in Calais Jan. 30. Houlton does not play Dexter, PCHS or Narraguagus during the regular season.
The top five teams in Eastern Class C earn a first-round bye directly to Bangor, while seeds 6-11 must play a preliminary playoff game.
In Eastern Class D, East Grand (7-2, 30.5167 points) is seventh, while Katahdin (7-6, 11.2963) is 13th, Southern Aroostook (2-11, 1.3272) is 20th and Hodgdon (0-13, no points) is 22nd. The top 15 teams make the tournament, with all 15 squads having to play a preliminary playoff. The top eight seeds earn a home preliminary game.
The following is a recap of games played through Monday, Jan. 19.
Houlton 61, Caribou 36 — At Houlton Tuesday, the Shires substituted early and often with nine different players getting into the scoring action against the visiting Vikings. Freshman Kolleen Bouchard led the way with 25 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore Rylee Warman added 10 points, five rebounds and five assists, while freshman Aspen Flewelling chipped in eight points and six rebounds.
Other scorers for Houlton included Natalie Hill, Makayla Watson and Kristen Brewer, each with four; and Chelsea Gentle, Megan Collett and Katie Condon each with two. Condon suffered an ankle injury and missed the entire second half of the contest.
For Caribou (1-8), Madison Doucette netted 13 points; Bria Judd had nine; Rachel Soucy added seven; Gabrielle Marquis, four; Morgan Outing, two; and Hope Shea, one.
Houlton led 25-10, 39-20 and 54-27 at the quarter breaks.
Fort Fairfield 72, Hodgdon 20 — At Fort Fairfield Tuesday, Meg Jellison scored 26 points to lead the Tigers to victory. Taylor Churchill added 13 for the winners, while Chelsey Pelkey added 10 points and 10 assists.
Freshman Lexi McGuire led the Hawks with five points.
Fort Fairfield led 22-1, 34-4 and 60-11 at the quarter breaks.
Houlton 53, Schenck 45 — At Millinocket Thursday, Bouchard led all players as she poured in 28 points to lead the Shires to victory. Condon battled back from her ankle injury suffered last Tuesday and added 10 points, while Hill added eight.
Chantel Lane led the Wolverines with 16 points, while Kayla Falone added 11.
Houlton trailed 13-8 in the first quarter and was down 28-26 at halftime. A strong second half surge saw the Shires on top 38-31 after three periods.
Southern Aroostook 65, Hodgdon 38 — At Hodgdon Thursday, the visiting Warriors were paced by senior Kennedi Smith (18 points) and freshman Megan Russell (17 points) as SACS rolled to the lop-sided victory. Senior Cassidy Lyons added 15 points for the Warriors.
For Hodgdon, freshman Janelle Goff had 12 points, while sophomore Jessica Drew added 11 and senior Hannah Sherman had five.
Southern Aroostook 39, Woodland 58 — At Dyer Brook Saturday, Woodland saw three players score in double digits as Jennie Cox had 14 points, Jillian Sprague added 12 and Lauren Cook chipped in 11. Lyons paced SACS with 17 points, while Smith chipped in 15 and Russell added seven steals and seven assists.
Woodland led 17-7, 38-19 and 47-27 at the quarter breaks.
Houlton 70, Fort Kent 27 — At Fort Kent Monday, the Shires had no problem getting past the Warriors thanks to a 19-point effort from Bouchard, who also had seven rebounds and six assists. Hill and Flewelling each added 12 points, while Chelsea Gentle had 10.
Cassidy Lovely led Fort Kent with 11 points, while Jordan O’Leary added 8.
Houlton led 18-4, 37-11 and 54-16 at the quarter breaks.
Easton 64, Hodgdon 20 — At Hodgdon Monday, the Bears roared to a lop-sided victory over the Hawks. Hannah Ferris tallied 14 points for the winners, while Madison Leach added 12 and Kylee Carter chipped in 11.
For Hodgdon, Goff tallied five points.
Easton led 14-1, 29-9 and 47-13 at the quarter breaks.
Katahdin 58, Central Aroostook 45 — At Mars Hill Monday, junior Courtney Stevens poured in 17 points to lead the Cougars past CAHS. Junior Molly Cunningham added 15 points, while junior Kaycee Cintron and Georgia Landry both had 12.
For the Panthers, Karli Levesque tallied 13 points and Kassie Levesque added 11.
Katahdin led 17-6, 31-10, and 43-28 at the quarter breaks.
East Grand 35, Wisdom 36 — At St. Agatha Monday, the visiting Vikings lost a heart-breaking one-point overtime decision to Wisdom. Senior Allison McEwen paced East Grand with 16 points, while sophomore Sarah Stoddard added nine.
For the Pioneers, Rylee Wright led Wisdom with 13 points, and Vanessa Pelletier added 12.
Wisdom led 10-3, 18-12 and 26-23 before Wisdom rallied to tie the game at 30-30 at the end of regulation.
