Girls
Fort Fairfield 34, Easton 33 (OT)
The Fort Fairfield girls made it four wins in their last five games by prevailing at home over Easton in overtime Saturday night.
Cammi King-DeMerchant, a freshman, had a career-best 17 points and made some big plays late in regulation and in the extra session to spark the win. She had eight points in the fourth quarter, including a free throw with less than a minute to play to force overtime. She added a field goal and another foul shot in OT to clinch it.
Sadie Edgecomb and DeMerchant each had three 3-pointers for the winners, now 5-6 and in 10th place in Class C North.
“We have plenty of points left on our schedule, but need a couple more pointworthy wins to secure a top-12 finish and a lot of our remaining games are tough, said FF coach Larry Gardner, whose team has made the post-season 18 consecutive seasons.
“We’ve gotten better. We’ve done a better job on the boards and the freshmen are playing a little better,” he added, “but there is still plenty of room for improvement with turnovers and free throw shooting.”
Elise Allen scored eight points and Delia Bonner had seven, including the lone points in overtime, for 5-7 Easton, which has now lost six in a row after a 5-1 start. The Bears are still in fifth place in the Class D rankings.
Presque Isle 58, Orono 32
The Wildcats rode the hot shooting of senior Emily Lagerstrom and coasted past the visiting Red Riots Saturday at PIHS.
Lagerstrom hit six of her eight 3-point field goal in the first half and finished with 26 points, along with seven rebounds. She missed only five 3-point attempts the entire game. Junior point guard Emily Wheaton turned in another strong outing with 21 points and seven assists.
“Our team played very hard and it was a near perfect first half of defense,” said Presque Isle coach Jeff Hudson. “We can be a very dangerous team when we shoot like that and it’s a lot of fun.”
Central Aroostook 53, Easton 44
In a battle between two of the top girls’ teams in Class D North Friday, the Panthers took control early and held off a few rallies to sweep the season series against the Bears.
Ashlee Harris scored 15 points, including three 3-pointers, and Breanne Bradbury tossed in 10 points for the 7-2 Panthers, now in third place in Class D North.
Delaney Leach fired in 21 points for the 5-6 Bears, who were playing their sixth consecutive game without 5-11 Sara Gilman, who has been out with an ankle injury. Easton has now lost five games in a row, but still is in fifth place in the ‘D’ North Heal Point rankings.
Boys
Orono 61, Presque Isle 50
The Wildcats stayed close for most of the game, even holding the lead early in the fourth quarter, but dropped the Saturday afternoon contest at PIHS.
The frontcourt trio of Bradley Kinney, Patrick Cash and Jacob Kinney all reach double figures in points for 6-3 PI, tallying 16, 12 and 10, respectively.
Nate Desisto, the leading scorer in the Big East Conference, had 19 to pace the Red Riots, who improved to 7-3.
Both teams are in the top six in the Class B North rankings, with Orono overtaking PI for the fifth spot
Fort Fairfield 67, Fort Kent 48
The Tigers featured a balanced offensive attack in their comfortable win at Fort Kent Friday.
Fort Fairfield jumped out to an 11-0 lead and according to coach Logan McLaughlin it was due to the team’s effective full-court pressure defense.
“It typically is a tough place to play, but we came out with a lot of energy and built the big lead, which was a boost,” he said.
Carter Bruce scored 13 points, including three 3-pointers. Ryan Player notched 12 and Chris Giberson 11 for the winners. Eight other players got into the scoring column for the Tigers, who have now won six in a row and are now 8-1 overall.
Fort Fairfield had defeated the Warriors 56-42 at home way back on Dec. 16.
Jacob Daigle scored 16 to lead Fort Kent, who fell to 4-5.
