Yet another weekend storm is expected to impact Aroostook County and has had a major impact on the upcoming varsity sports schedule.
Friday’s schedule is limited and includes the Big East Conference cheerleading championships at 6 p.m. in Caribou and the Washburn at Madawaska basketball doubleheader, which kicks off with the boys playing at 5 p.m., followed by the girls game at 6:30 p.m. The Houlton boys basketball team is slated to take on Central at East Corinth at 7 p.m.
The Van Buren doubleheader at East Grand scheduled for Friday has been postponed. Those games will now be played Feb. 8. A Nordic ski meet planned Friday at the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle has also been wiped out.
All of Saturday’s sporting events have been called off.
Caribou was supposed to attend a wrestling tournament in Dover-Foxcroft Saturday, but that is now off, as is the alpine ski meet in Fort Kent which was planned for that morning.
The Presque Isle girls’ and boys’ home basketball games against Orono on Saturday have already been postponed, with a makeup date of Jan. 29. Times are 4:15 (girls) and 5:45 p.m. (boys).
The Southern Aroostook at Central Aroostook basketball doubleheader has been shifted to Monday, Jan. 15. The girls’ game will be played at 5:30 p.m. and the boys at 7 p.m. The new date for the Madawaska at Katahdin basketball games is Jan. 26. The boys will tip off at 4 p.m. and girls at 5:30 p.m.
Also, the Greater Houlton Christian Academy boys basketball game against Wisdom has been called off and there is no makeup date established at this time.
Saturday’s hockey game between the Houlton-Hodgdon-Southern Aroostook-Katahdin Black Hawks at John Bapst has been cancelled. No makeup date was announced. The Presque Isle hockey team’s game at Hampden Academy has also been scratched, with a makeup date yet to be released.
Summaries of Thursday’s basketball games, which included a wild finish in Fort Fairfield, are as follows:
Boys basketball
Fort Fairfield 69, Fort Kent 68 — Tiger senior Isaac Cyr converted a fast-break layup with 9.6 seconds left for the winning basket in Fort Fairfield’s victory.
The teams combined to miss all eight free throws attempted in the final 17 seconds, including three by the Warriors with no time left on the clock. Fort Fairfield led by as many as 18 points in the first half, but still had to come from behind late to avenge an early-season loss to Fort Kent.
Cyr led all scorers with 32 points, while Jared Harvey had a great all around game by adding 21 points for the Tigers (8-2).
Jacob Daigle’s 23 points paced Fort Kent (5-3) and teammate Caleb Delisle added 13.
Ashland 52, Van Buren 40 — After an 0-7 start, the Hornets have now won two of their last three games, including this victory at Van Buren that was keyed by 21 points from Baily Clark.
Dylan Haley and Steven Bellanceau netted 12 points each for 2-8 Ashland, while Luc Perreault’s 14 points were tops for the Crusaders, which fell to 2-8.
Katahdin 66, East Grand 44 — At Stacyville, the host-Cougars outscored East Grand 20-8 in the second quarter to break open what had been a tight game with the Vikings.
The Cougars (7-2) were led by Hunter Craig with 20 points, Brody Guiggey added 17 and Rig Otero had nine.
For the Vikings (2-5), Thomas Gilman posted 17 points and his younger brother Benji Gilman provided 14 points. Matthew Potter added 11.
Girls basketball
Ashland 56, Van Buren 36 — Megan Cote scored a game-high 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as Ashland improved to 6-5 following the road win.
Jamie Poulin scored 14 points, Morgan Doughty added 12 and Amber Chasse contributed nine points and 10 rebounds for the Hornets.
Emma Lajoie’s 12 points and game-high 14 rebounds and Brooke Caron’s eight points paced the 2-7 Crusaders.
Fort Kent 33, Fort Fairfield 29 — The Warriors moved to 8-2 on the season with a hard-fought win in Fort Fairfield.
Fort Kent battled back from a halftime deficit behind Cassidy Lovley and Libby LaPointe, who combined to score 19 of the their team’s 21 second-half points. Lovley finished with a game-high 15 points while LaPointe connected for 10. The Warriors are now 8-2 overall.
Cammi King-Demerchant tallied seven points and Sara Edgecomb and Brenna Levasseur each had six for the 7-5 Tigers.
Central Aroostook 52, Easton 15 — Caitlyn Harris led a balanced scoring attack with 10 points and the visiting Panthers are now 7-3 after easing past the Bears.
Lydia Ferris was the high scorer with six points for Easton, now 1-7.
Southern Aroostook 61, Hodgdon 27 — At Dyer Brook, Sydney Brewer scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the Warriors win over the Hawks. Kacy Daggett contributed 10 points and 8 rebounds and Kylie Vining netted 10 points.
Sydney Howell scored 15 points to pace Hodgdon.
Southern Aroostook led 20-4, 32-11 and 45-17 at the quarter breaks. The Warriors improved to 9-1 on the season, while Hodgdon dropped to 4-5.
Katahdin 33, East Grand 27 — At Stacyville, the Cougars held off the Vikings of Danforth to record the victory. Dee Libby paced Katahdin with 11 points, while Natalie Rickards chipped in nine and Haley Landry added eight.
Haleigh Shay led all players as she scored 17 points for the Vikings.
Katahdin improved to 5-4 on the season, while East Grand continues to search for its first win at 0-8.