The regular season comes to an end on Friday, Feb. 5, 2016 with preliminary round playoff games starting Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016.
As of Tuesday morning Houlton (14-1, 110.0000 Points) continues to lead the Class B North region. The Shires’ grip on the top spot, however, is tenuous as Mt. Desert Island (14-1, 105.6173) is a mere 4.3427 points behind Houlton. MDI is the one team to beat Houlton this year. Not far behind the Trojans is No. 3 Presque Isle (11-2, 91.1111). Houlton plays Presque Isle at the Wildcats’ home on Feb. 2 in a game with huge playoff implications.
The top four seeds earn a bye to Bangor, so Houlton should punch its ticket to the Cross Insurance Center and avoid a preliminary game this year.
In Class C North, Hodgdon (1-15, 5.3086) has played competitively in several games this season, but has only been able to get just the one victory. The Hawks are 16th and not in the playoff picture this year as only the top 12 teams qualify in this region.
In Class D North, Southern Aroostook (10-5, 67.2840) remains as the No. 1 seed despite suffering a loss to Central Aroostook earlier last week. The Warriors are 8.7655 points ahead of the No. 2 seed (Shead, 11-4). The Warriors play Hodgdon, Ashland and Katahdin in their final three games of the year.
Also in Class D North, Katahdin improved to 8-8 on the season and is presently sixth in the region with 30.1852 points. The Cougars are hoping to avoid the preliminary round and would do precisely that if they can remain in the sixth seed as the top six squads get a first-round bye in the region. If Katahdin can stay sixth, it would face the No. 3 seed (currently Washburn) in the quarterfinals in Bangor.
Also in Class D North, East Grand/Greater Houlton Christian (6-9, 18.2099) dropped to 11th in the region Tuesday morning and at the moment is out of the playoff picture as only the top 10 teams qualify. The Vikings are a mere 0.0617 points behind No. 10 Ashland (5-10) for that final playoff spot. The Vikings play Woodland Wednesday, Wisdom Friday and end the season with Hodgdon Wednesday, Feb. 3. East Grand/GHCA may need to get a win over Woodland or Wisdom (or both) to secure a playoff spot.
The following is a recap of games played through Monday evening.
Katahdin 57, Hodgdon 38 — At Hodgdon Monday, the visiting Cougars picked up the win over the host-Hawks. Georgia Landry paced Katahdin with 17 points, while Molly Cunningham and Courtney Stevens each added 14.
Sydney Howell scored 15 points to lead Hodgdon, while Alexis McGuire added 10.
Katahdin led 17-8, 30-17 and 46-28 at the quarter breaks.
Old Town 37, Houlton 73 — At Houlton Monday, the Shires rolled to an easy victory over the visiting Coyotes. Senior Natalie Hill tallied 27 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals to pace the Shiretowners. Sophomore Kolleen Bouchard contributed 22 points while sophomore Aspen Flewelling and junior Rylee Warman had nine points apiece.
Old Town was led by Brooke Mishou with 14 points and Abby Sharp chipped in eight.
Houlton led 19-9, 45-16 and 58-25 at the quarter breaks.
East Grand/GHCA 57, Van Buren 22 — At Van Buren Saturday, Sarah Stoddard scored a game-high 20 points to lead East Grand/GHCA to victory. Haleigh Shay added 13 points.
For Van Buren, Alexis Ouellette and Armanda Nicknair tallied seven points apiece.
The Vikings led 12-0, 25-8 and 45-19 at the quarter breaks.
Hodgdon 23, Shead 61 — At Eastport, Cassidy Wilder and Holly Preston tallied 19 and 16 points, respectively, to lead the Tigers to victory. Brooke Robinson and Cierra Seeley chipped in with seven apiece.
Sydney Howell scored eight points to lead Hodgdon.
Shead led 26-8, 39-13 and 46-19 at the quarter breaks.
Woodland 36, So. Aroostook 54 — At Dyer Brook Saturday, the Warriors jumped to an 18-point lead at the half and cruised to the victory. Kassidy Mathers led the Warriors with 18 points and five assists. Makaelyn Porter finished with 12 points, while Kylie Vining added 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Lauren Cook led 7-7 Woodland with eight points.
SACS led 14-11, 31-13 and 39-22 at the quarter breaks.
Ashland 44, East Grand/GHCA 41 — At Danforth Thursday, the visiting Hornets emerged victorious. Individual results were not reported.
East Grand/GHCA 30, Machias 42 — At Machias Jan. 20, Tate Dolley recorded 24 points and eight rebounds to lead the Bulldogs to victory. Karyssa Norton contributed 10 points and 17 rebounds.
For the Vikings of Danforth, Stoddard tallied 16 points and Shay added 11.
East Grand/GHCA led 11-8 in the first quarter and 24-23 at halftime, before the Bulldogs went up 30-26 after three periods.
So. Aroostook 61, Katahdin 54 — At Stacyville Jan. 20, Mathers poured in 23 points to lead Southern Aroostook of Dyer Brook to the overtime win against Katahdin. Sydney Brewer chipped in with 16 points for the Warriors.
Molly Cunningham and Courtney Stevens led the Cougars with 18 and 17 points, respectively. Georgia Landry added 11 points.
Hodgdon 55, Washburn 58 — At Washburn Jan. 20, the Hawks nearly pulled off a remarkable win, but fell just short against the defending Class D state champs. Kassie Farley led a balanced scoring attack with 16 points for Washburn, while Laina Mette added 14 points while Emilia Churchill and Grace Braley tossed in 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Hodgdon was led by Howell with a game-high 25 points.
Washburn led 18-10, 31-21 and 52-40 at the quarter breaks.
Penquis 34, Katahdin 59 — At Stacyville Jan. 19, Stevens poured in 23 points to lead Katahdin, while Landry, Natalie Rickards, and Cunningham added 10 points each.
Penquis was led by Jazmyn Gray with 10 points.
