Shires, Wildcats to meet on the hardwood Thursday

The undefeated Houlton boys basketball team heads north Thursday evening to take on Presque Isle in a 7 p.m. game. Coach Tim Brewer’s Shires (2-0) have had two strong wins to open the season, beating Central Aroostook 63-49 and besting Hodgdon 80-49.

Coach Terry Cummings’ Wildcats (0-1) will be looking for their first win for the year after coming up just short in their season-opener. Presque Isle fell 63-62 to Washington Academy, despite leading by 14 points heading into the final period.

Other games on the schedule include Greater Houlton Christian Academy boys heading to Central Aroostook for a 6 p.m. contest and Easton boys traveling to Hodgdon for a 7 p.m. game.

There were three postponements Wednesday evening. Washburn’s games at East Grand  were switched to Saturday. The boys’ contest will be at 11:30 a.m., followed by the girls at 1 p.m. Central Aroostook’s scheduled contest against Southern Aroostook in Dyer Brook was moved to Saturday as part of a doubleheader. The boys’ game will be played at 5:30 p.m., followed by the girls’ game at 7 p.m.

The following is a recap of games played Wednesday.

Hockey

The Presque Isle hockey team used a strong third period to skate away with a 5-3 victory over the Houlton-Hodgdon-Southern Aroostook-Katahdin Black Hawks at the John Millar Civic Center Wednesday evening.

Wildcat freshman Gage Letourneau broke a 2-2 tie when he scored with 1:34 to play in regulation for the go-ahead goal as Presque Isle (1-1) edged the Black Hawks (0-2). Torey Levesque added an empty netter for the Wildcats with 25 second to go as the Black Hawks pulled their goalie in an effort to tie the game.

Colby Carlisle, another freshman, scored twice and Riley Kinney also scored for Presque Isle.

“We did a much better job keeping the puck in the offensive zone tonight,” said Wildcat coach Carl Flynn, whose team fell to Camden Hills in the home opener Friday. “We took advantage of bouncing pucks in front of their goalie and capitalized.”

A.J. Henderson, Nick Delucca and Jason Collett scored for Houlton, which led 1-0 after the first period and was tied with Presque Isle 2-2 through two periods.

Presque Isle outshot Houlton 31-29, with Andre Daigle in goal for the Wildcats and Ian Neureuther in net for the Blackhawks.

Wrestling

The Caribou wrestling team made the trip to Lincoln Wednesday and lost dual matches to Mattanawcook (41-36), Dexter (48-30) and Bucksport (52-24).

Kirtas Jandreau went 3-0 in the 195-pound division, while Rylee Saucier (106), Cory Jandreau (145), Evan Michaud (138), Jonah Thayer (170) and Cage Lister (182) all went 2-1.

“I thought we battled very nicely with those teams and the other coaches complimented me on our young team and the nice numbers we have,” said Viking coach Chico Hernandez. “We are still very green and our freshman corps has to start wrestling better and not make novice mistakes, but we are improving.”

Hernandez said even though freshman Caleb Robbins lost all three of his bouts in the 126-pound division, all were against top-tier wrestlers in the state and “he showed a lot of heart in his first showing as a varsity wrestler.”

Girls basketball

Woodland 42, Hodgdon 28 — At Hodgdon, Jennie Cox and Shawna Monk each scored eight points as Woodland beat Hodgdon. Emily Curtis netted seven points for the Dragons (2-0).

Sydney Howell paced the Hawks (1-1) with seven points.

Houlton 57, Central Aroostook 31 — At Mars Hill, Kolleen Bouchard’s 28 points led Houlton past Central Aroostook. The Shires (1-0) raced to a 21-8 first-quarter lead and cruised to the season-opening victory.

Teagan Ewings and Abby Worthley chipped in with seven points apiece for Houlton. Central Aroostook was led by Maci Beals’ 10 points.

Houlton led 21-8, 33-16 and 49-25 at the quarter breaks.

Caribou girls 53, Fort Kent 27 — At Caribou Wednesday, the Vikings bolted to a 26-point halftime lead and eased past the Warriors.

Gabrielle Marquis led all scorers with 16 points and Paige Espling also was in double figures for Caribou, tallying 11. They posted 14 and nine, respectively, during the opening half blitz.

Libby LaPointe hit two 3-point field goals and finished with a team-high eight points for the 1-1 Warriors. Cassidy Lovley added seven points and Mikayla Pelletier six.

Fort Fairfield 45, Easton 31 — Sara Edgecomb drained three 3-pointers en route to a team-best 11 points, leading the Tigers to their second consecutive win to begin the season Wednesday.

Emma Campbell tallied nine and Kourtney West eight points for visiting Fort Fairfield, which outscored Easton 19-8 in the fourth quarter to open up what was a close game.

Easton’s Isabelle Morin netted 13 points to lead all scorers. Delaney Leach notched seven for the 0-2 Bears.

Madawaska 45, Ashland 27 — The Owls bested the Hornets Wednesday in Madawaska and improved to 2-0 in the process. Ashland now holds a 1-1 record. Game details were not reported.

Boys basketball

Caribou 60, Fort Kent 56 — The Vikings fought off a second-half rally by the Warriors to win their home opener played Wednesday.

Caribou led by as many as 18 points before Fort Kent cut the margin to three in the late going. Parker Deprey’s free throw in the final 30 seconds iced it for the Vikes.

Deprey scored a game-high 15 points and Isaac Marker posted 11, all coming in the first half which saw Caribou build a 40-24 advantage. Nine of Marker’s points came on 3-point field goals. Alex Bouchard also hit double figures with 10 points.

Fort Kent’s Caleb Delisle totaled a game-high 26 points, including four 3-pointers. Camden Jandreau also scored in double figures with 12 points. The Warriors fell to 1-1.

Fort Fairfield 55, Katahdin 33 — The Tigers improved to 3-0 with the victory over the Cougars Wednesday in Fort Fairfield. Katahdin’s record evened at 1-1. Game details were not reported.
Madawaska 57, Ashland 46 — The Owls improved to 2-0 following Wednesday’s home victory over Ashland. The Hornets’ record fell to 0-2. Game details were not reported.