HOULTON, Maine — The final week of the high school basketball season has arrived, although Mother Nature is doing her best to extend the season with snow cancellations.
The final countable day of regular season games is Thursday, Feb. 5, although Feb. 6 may be used if needed for some makeup games. The preliminary playoffs for schoolgirl basketball are slated to begin Tuesday, Feb. 10, but if the two teams agree, they can also play on Monday, Feb. 9. The quarterfinals 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.
In Eastern Class C, Houlton remained in third place despite picking up its second loss of the year Jan. 28. The Shires (13-2, 68.5185 Heal Points) are behind No. 1 Narraguagus of Harrington (12-4, 76.7429) and No. 2 Piscataquis Community High School of Guilford (13-3, 72.7160).
Houlton has three games remaining to be played: at Caribou Tuesday (yesterday), hosting Lee Academy 6:30 p.m. Wednesday and at Calais Thursday at 4:30 p.m. for a makeup game.
If Houlton stays as the No. 3 seed it would face the winner of the No. 6-No. 11 preliminary playoff Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 9:35 a.m. in at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. Those two teams are currently No. 6 Orono (10-4) and No. 11 Sumner (7-7).
In Eastern Class D, only East Grand (8-4, 38.4314, ninth place) and Katahdin (8-9, 15.9259, 14th) are in the playoff mix. East Grand was slated to play Southern Aroostook Monday, but that game was postponed due to the weather. The Vikings host Machias on Tuesday, travel to Hodgdon Wednesday, travel to Southern Aroostook Thursday and host Wisdom on Friday.
Katahdin has just one game remaining on its schedule, at Bangor Christian Wednesday at 5 p.m.
If East Grand remains in the No. 9 seed it would play at the No. 8 seed (currently Schenck, 11-5) in a preliminary playoff Tuesday, Feb. 10. If Katahdin remains 14th, it would travel to No. 3 Wisdom (11-5) for a preliminary playoff.
Southern Aroostook (3-14, 2.6543) is 20th, while Hodgdon (0-16, no points) is 22nd. Hodgdon played its final game of the year Tuesday, hosting Limestone.
The following is a recap of games played through Monday.
Houlton 36, Presque Isle 50 — At Presque Isle Jan. 28, two squads that are among the tops in the County squared off. Presque Isle, coming off a difficult road loss to Mount Desert Island Jan. 24, created a number of match-up problems for the Shires.
The Class B Wildcats (14-2) have lost two games to MDI, while both of Houlton’s losses (12-2) came at the hands of Presque Isle.
“Defensively, Presque Isle poses match-up problems for us,” said Houlton coach Shawn Graham. “We weren’t comfortable playing zone because the first time we played they hit nine 3-pointers. They are a tough team to press so I thought our best shot was to play man defense, but even then, there are mismatches because they are a little bigger and a bit more physical. We also got out rebounded badly.”
Houlton freshman Kolleen Bouchard tallied 18 points, while junior Katie Condon added seven, freshman Aspen Flewelling had five and junior Natalie Hill chipped in four.
“Offensively, we had a lot of success versus their man defense and their 1-3-1 (zone) but when they switched to a 2-3 zone, mainly in the second half we weren’t getting much dribble penetration and had to settle for perimeter jump shots that just weren’t falling. We stayed within striking distance for most of the game but managed just three points in the fourth quarter.”
For Presque Isle, Krystal Kingsbury led the way with 21 points, while Regan Nelson added 12 and Hannah Graham 10.
Despite the loss, the Shires are one of the top squads in Eastern Class C and remain a safe bet to earn a first-round bye in the upcoming tournament.
“Overall, I like where we are at heading into tournament play,” Graham said. “We’ve had a great season winning 13 in a row before the P.I. loss. I think we are as talented as anyone in our class. Offensively we are much better than a year ago averaging roughly 56 points per game, while allowing just 36. We will likely see lots of zone defense in the tournament and we need to be better so we’ll spend lots of time in practice the next two weeks preparing for it.”
East Grand 31, Shead 33 — At Eastport Thursday, the Vikings lost a nail-biter as Shead squeaked out the victory. The two squads were knotted at 10-10 at the end of the first quarter, with Shead holding a 19-17 halftime lead. The score was tied again at 27-27 to close out the third period.
Senior Allie McEwen led East Grand with 13 points, while sophomore Sarah Stoddard added 10.
Holly Preston led all players with 14 points for the Tigers, including the game-winning shot with three seconds to play. Kaitlyn Mitchell added seven points and Cierra Seeley had six.
Hodgdon 31, Southern Aroostook 44 — At Dyer Brook Thursday, SACS senior Kennedi Smith poured in 19 points to lead her team to victory, while freshman Megan Russell added nine.
Freshman Alexis McGuire paced Hodgdon with 10 points.
The two teams were knotted at 6-6 at the end of the first quarter and 16-16 at the halftime break. The Warriors opened up 31-23 lead after three periods.
Katahdin 33, Schenck 55 — At Stacyville Jan. 27, the visiting Wolverines received a 17-point effort from Lexi Hoxie, while teammate Kayla Falone added 16 and Anna Sewell netted 10.
For Katahdin, junior Courtney Stevens led the way with 11 points, while sophomore Georgia Landry added eight.
Katahdin 48, Central Aroostook 59 — At Stacyville Thursday, Molly Anthony tallied 22 points, 10 of which came in the fourth quarter, CAHS held off a rally by the Cougars. Kassie Levesque had 14 points and Kelsie Dominique added 10 for the Panthers.
Freshman Natalie Rickards had 14 for the Cougars, while junior Molly Cunningham added 12, Stevens chipped in 10 and Landry added eight.
“We hung tough with them most of the game after a slow start,” said Katahdin coach Jona Fitzpatrick. “We have one more game to play, Bangor Christian. We have had a few days off due to the weather, as we have been struggling a bit with a shoulder injury and kids not feeling well. Now we are ready to get back on the floor.
“The girls and I really want that chance to playoff for a trip to the tournament, the ultimate goal,” she continued. “We have no seniors, but I have solid leadership coming from my captains on the floor. Now we have to tie all we have been working on and put it all into the game. Defense and rebounding are key and limiting our turnovers. They are a great group of girls to coach, they work hard.”
