Wildcat hoop teams to be challenged

The Presque Isle basketball teams begin a difficult stretch on Saturday, hoping to keep their early-season winning streaks alive.

The Wildcat teams will play four games in eight days, beginning with Saturday’s contest in Orono. They host Ellsworth next Wednesday, Dec. 27, and Mount Desert Island Thursday, Dec. 28, before making another road trip Dec. 30 to Hermon.

The girls have won both their games (against Washington Academy and Belfast) without being challenged, while the boys have picked up two wins in a row following the season-opening loss at WA.

Summaries of games involving local teams played from Dec. 13-18 are as follows:

Girls basketball

Central Aroostook 44, Fort Fairfield 37 — The Panthers shook off a slow start Monday, outscoring the host Tigers 39-25 over the final three periods to win for the first time this season.

Three players reached double figures in scoring for Central Aroostook (1-2). Breann Bradbury    led the way with 14, Kassie Levesque had 11 and Maci Beals 10.

Cammi King-Demerchant paced the Tigers (2-2) with 13 points and Riley Clough added 10, including six during the first quarter which saw her team jump out to a 12-5 advantage.

Ashland 52, Wisdom 20 — The Hornets won for the third time this season, handling Wisdom in St. Agatha Monday. Ashland blanked the Pioneers in the first quarter and gave up just three points in the third in a strong defensive display.

Morgan Doughty scored 12 points and Jamie Poulin chipped in with nine for the Hornets, now 3-1. Wisdom’s Alyssa Banville led her team with nine points. The Pioneers fell to 0-3 with the loss.

Southern Aroostook 69, Central Aroostook 51 — At Dyer Brook Saturday, the Warriors defeated Central Aroostook. SA’s Makaelyn Porter netted 25 points and had four steals to lead the Warriors to their third straight win. Kacy Daggett chipped in 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Kylie Vining, Kassidy Mathers and Sydney Brewer each had nine points.

For the Panthers, Kassie Levesque scored 14 points, all in the second half, while Macie Beals added 13 and Breanne Bradbury had 10.

Washburn 38, East Grand 35 — At Danforth Saturday, the Beavers picked up the win as Kassie Farley, who finished with a team-high 14 points, sank two free throws with three seconds left to seal it.

Alexis Carney scored 10 points for Washburn (2-1), while Haleigh Shay had a game-high 20 for East Grand (0-4).

Presque Isle 70, Belfast 27 — Emily Wheaton scored 21 points and Maggie Castonguay tallied 17 as the Wildcats came away with their second blowout win to begin the season Saturday on the road. Maddie Jandreau fired in three 3-pointers to account for all of her nine points.

The Wildcats have averaged a 58-point margin of victory in their wins over Washington Academy and Belfast to begin the season.

Ashland 51, Easton 28 — The Hornets defeated the Bears for the second time in eight days Friday, establishing a 12-point lead at the end of the first quarter and rolling to the win.

Amber Chasse led Ashland with 16 points and Cami Deabay posted eight.

Isabelle Morin tallied 16 points for the 0-3 Bears.

Fort Kent 40, Fort Fairfield 31 — Cassidy Lovley scored 11 of her 14 points in the second quarter, helping the Warriors to a 12-point halftime lead en route to the win at Fort Kent Friday.

Cammi King-DeMerchant notched all 15 points from the foul line for the Tigers. Kourtney West added nine more for Fort Fairfield.

Houlton 57, Central Aroostook 31 — At Mars Hill, Kolleen Bouchard’s 28 points led Houlton past Central Aroostook last Wednesday. 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.

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 last 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 Bears.

Madawaska 45, Ashland 27 — The Owls bested the Hornets last 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

Easton 60, Washburn 22 — At Easton Monday, the Bears jumped out to a 22-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and rolled to the victory.

Matt Pangburn and Camden Michaud each tallied nine points to lead Easton (3-2) and Collin Sotomayor added eight as 11 different players scored.

Washburn (0-4), which cut the lead to 12 midway through the third quarter, was led by Carvor Pendexter, who finished with eight points.

Wisdom 58, Ashland 48 — The Pioneers sent the visiting Hornets to their fourth consecutive loss to begin the season in the game played Monday in St. Agatha. Wisdom improved to 2-1. Game details, including individual scoring, were not reported.

Presque Isle 78, Belfast 72 — Griffin Guerrette poured in a career-high 40 points, including a 6-for-9 performance on 3-point field goals, as the Wildcats improved to 2-1 with a hard-fought victory in Belfast Saturday.

Guerrette scored 25 of his points in the first half to help PI to a 10-point advantage. The Wildcats stretched the lead to 14 before the Lions came back behind Stanley Sturgis, who scored 25 second-half points. The hosts tied it at 61, but PI went 8 for 12 from the foul line in the fourth quarter to come out on top.

Trace Cyr registered a big game for the Wildcats with 12 points and 11 rebounds and Jonah Hudson scored 15 points and hauled in six boards.

East Grand 71, Washburn 46 — At Danforth Saturday, the Vikings improved to 2-2 on the season with a convincing win over Washburn. Thomas Gilman score 21 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead East Grand. Lendin Stoddard added 10 points and eight rebounds, while Noah Sixberry had 10 points and six steals and Matthew Potter had 10 points.

For Washburn, Aidan Churchill scored 15 points, including three 3-pointers, while Patrick Saucier added 10 points.

Central Aroostook 91, Southern Aroostook 70 — At Dyer Brook Saturday, Central Aroostook’s Ben Thomas poured in a game-high 32 points, including 8 3-pointers, as the visiting Panthers beat Central Aroostook in a high-scoring affair.

Panther Brayden Bradbury added 15 points, Josh Thomas and Hayden Kingsbury each had 11 and Caleb Harris totaled nine. As a team, the Panthers drained 15 3-pointers in a strong showing from behind the arc.

For the Warriors, Garrett Siltz had 21 points, while Jacob Brooks added 12, Jayden Burpee had 11 and Xavier Morales chipped in 10.

Central Aroostook led 26-12, 48-32 and 71-53 at the quarter breaks.

Easton 66, Ashland 51 — The Bears swept the season series against the Hornets with a strong performance in Ashland Friday.

Collin Sotomayor hit for a season-high 24 points and freshman Camden Michaud poured in a career-best 17 for the winners. Matt Pangburn scored 10 points for Easton.

Dylan Haley netted 17 points, Jesse Wortman 14 and Steven Bellanceau 12 for the 0-3 Hornets.

Fort Kent 62, Fort Fairfield 52 — The trio of Caleb Delisle, Camden Jandreau and Jacob Daigle combined for all but two of the Warriors’ points in the victory at home over the Tigers Friday.

Delisle had 21, Jandreau 20 and Daigle 19 for the winners. Malcolm Langner fired in a career-high 19 points and Isaac Cyr added 14 for Fort Fairfield, who suffered its first loss after opening with three consecutive wins.

Presque Isle 66, Houlton 60 — At Presque Isle Thursday, Griffin Guerrette’s 27 points and eight rebounds carried the Wildcats to victory over the Shiretowners.

The Wildcats trailed by nine points midway through the second quarter before storming back to grab an 11-point lead in the third. Houlton used a Keegan Gentle buzzer-beater to close out the third quarter just three points down.

The Shires trimmed the deficit to one (55-54) midway through the fourth, but Guerrette was 7 for 10 from the free throw line in that final period to keep his team in front the rest of the way. Twelve of his points came on foul shots.

Wildcat sophomore Caleb Wheaton came off the bench and tossed in 16 points for Presque Isle. He drained four 3-pointers in the second half.

“He has worked really hard and it was nice to see him rewarded,” said PI coach Terry Cummings. “He started the second half for us and it worked as we were able to spread the floor and get some open looks, which forced them out of a triangle-and-two defense that really gave us fits.”

Also for Presque Isle, Trace Cyr collected 10 rebounds and Jason Dumais had seven rebounds and four steals. Jonah Hudson grabbed five rebounds to go along with his seven points.

Gentle and Cameron Cleary led Houlton with 21 and 20 points, respectively. Nolan Porter chipped in 10. Cleary also had eight rebounds and six blocks.

Central Aroostook 69, GHCA 47 — At Mars Hill Thursday, Central Aroostook received 21 points from Brayden Bradbury and 16 from Ben Thomas to upend Greater Houlton Christian Academy. Isaac Potter had 13 points for the Eagles (1-2).

CAHS led 9-8, 23-17 and 46-31 at the quarter breaks.

Hodgdon 63, Easton 60 — At Hodgdon, the Hawks (2-1) erased a 14-point halftime deficit by outscoring Easton 44-27 in the second half to secure Thursday’s victory.

Josh Foster’s game-high 19 points, Josh Palmer’s 17 and Wyatt Foster’s 14 paced the Hawks. Easton was led by Keagan Kinney with 16 points and Noah Hanscomb with 13.

Easton led 13-8, 33-19 and 44-41 at the quarter breaks, but the Hawks rallied in the final period to pull off the victory.

Fort Fairfield 55, Katahdin 33 — At Fort Fairfield Wednesday, Isaac Cyr poured in a game-high 27 points as the Tigers outscored Katahdin 33-12 in the second half to pull away for the victory. Jared Harvey added 10 points for Fort Fairfield.

Katahdin was led by Brody Guiggey with 10 points and Rig Otero with nine.

Katahdin led 13-8 in the first quarter, but Fort Fairfield took a 22-21 lead at the half and went up 39-29 after three periods.

Madawaska 57, Ashland 46 — The Owls improved to 2-0 following last Wednesday’s home victory over Ashland. Game details were not reported.