Monday is a relatively quiet one for the local sports teams, but does feature a prime matchup between the top-ranked girls basketball teams in Class C and D North.
Houlton (10-0) travels to Dyer Brook at 7 p.m. to take on Southern Aroostook (11-1). Houlton is the only squad to beat Southern Aroostook this season. The Shires beat SA 51-37 on Dec. 22 in Houlton.
“In terms of (Maine Principals Association) Heal Points, I don’t believe it will be a big issue for either team,” Houlton coach Shawn Graham said. “However, as far as readying yourself for the tournament, I think it’s a great opportunity for both teams. It will surely provide a tournament like atmosphere and should be a very entertaining night of basketball.”
The coach added that both teams will likely be physical, aggressive with the ball and playing for pride.
“I will be looking for a solid, hard nosed effort on the defensive end,” Graham said. “We haven’t gotten off to a very good start in the first quarter in our last three games so I think that will key for us.”
He said he expects Cliff Urquhart’s team to play with a lot more confidence in this game, especially considering the Warriors played Houlton tough in their first meeting.
“We will have to rebound much better than we did against MA (Mattanawcook Academy) Friday night,” Graham said. “Should we see a junk defense, my role players will have to continue to step up for us as they have. I have been very pleased with the play of (Teagan) Ewings, (Abbie) Worthley and (Jamie) Brown as of late.”
In another girls basketball game, Katahdin (8-4 and fourth in Class D North) travels to Hodgdon to take on the Hawks (6-5 and 14th in Class C North) in what should be a competitive game. The Hawks are trying to remain in playoff contention in Class C and a win over the Cougars could go a long way to helping with that effort for coach Wendell Harvey’s squad. The last time the two teams met, Hodgdon notched a 38-25 victory in Stacyville Dec. 15.
In boys basketball, Central Aroostook (11-3 and in third in Class C North) will travel to Easton for a 7 p.m. boys matchup against the Bears (7-5 and in sixth place in Class D North). Also, Greater Houlton Christian Academy (6-5 and fourth in Class D North) travels south to take on East Grand (2-7) at 6 p.m.
A Nordic ski meet is scheduled at Madawaska beginning at 3 p.m. Caribou will be the favorite in both the girls and boys competitions in the classic-style race, with Ashland, MSSM, Fort Kent and Presque Isle expected to join the host Owls.
Summaries of Friday’s games are as follows:
East Grand girls 43, Wisdom 29 — At Danforth, success finally arrived for the East Grand girls as the Vikings outscored the Pioneers of St. Agatha 12-5 in the third quarter to pull away for the win.
Haleigh Shay paced East Grand (1-8) with 17 points, Mallory Gilman added 14 and Jordy Cowyer put in 10.
Alyssa Banville scored 12 points to lead Wisdom (0-10).
East Grand led 9-3, 17-15 and 29-20 at the quarter breaks.
Wisdom boys 51, East Grand 39 — At Danforth Friday, Jack Guerrette poured in 30 points to power Wisdom by East Grand.
Thomas Gilman paced East Grand with 23 points.
Wisdom led 15-4, 26-13 and 38-25 at the quarter breaks.
Houlton girls 71, Mattanawcook Academy 47 — At Houlton, Kolleen Bouchard scored 32 points, grabbed eight rebounds, had seven assists and six blocks to power the Shiretowners by the Lynx of Lincoln. Teagan Ewings also contributed 17 points for Houlton.
Tressa Libby paced the Lynx with 18 points, Natalie Tilton added 10 and Kim Voisine put in nine.
Trace Cyr of the Wildcats saves the ball from going out of bounds, while Foxcroft Academy’s Drew Dankert (24) and Matthew Spooner (14) are in on the play during Saturday’s game at PIHS. (Courtesy of Terry Sandusky)
Houlton led 18-14, 40-22 and 60-34 at the quarter breaks.
Fort Fairfield boys 65, Central Aroostook 55 — At Fort Fairfield, the Tigers used a balanced scoring attack to knock off the Panthers of Central Aroostook.
Isaac Cyr led the 10-2 Tigers with 16 points, while Liam McNamee had 13, Jared Harvey 11 and Alex Sprague 10.
Brayden Bradbury led Central Aroostook with a game-high 26 points.
Fort Kent girls 44, Ashland 26 — The Warriors fought back from a five-point halftime deficit to down the visiting Hornets.
Fort Kent outscored Ashland 33-10 after intermission to improve to 9-4. Cassidy Lovley had 14 points to lead the Warriors and Jamie Poulin netted 13 for Ashland, now 7-6 overall.
Fort Kent boys 71, Ashland 27 — Five Warriors scored nine points or more, led by Jacob Daigle’s 15, as Fort Kent moved to 9-3 with the home victory.
Baily Clark scored 10 points and Dylan Haley added eight for the 3-10 Hornets.
Summaries of Saturday’s games:
Katahdin girls 63, Van Buren 42 — At Stacyville, Natalie Rickards poured in 24 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and made four steals to lead Katahdin to its eighth win against four losses. Dee Libby chipped in with 16 points and four steals.
Van Buren, now 2-9, was led by Lindsay Beaulieu’s 10 points and Leah Gendreau’s nine.
Central Aroostook boys 90, Washburn 39 — Seven different Panther players hit 3-pointers in the team’s easy victory over the Beavers.
The Panthers (11-3) featured balanced scoring as the duo of Ben Thomas and Brayden Bradbury led the way with 13 points apiece. Hayden Kingsbury and Josh Thomas added 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Washburn (0-12) was led by Aidan Churchill’s game-high 15 points. He had four 3-pointers in the contest. Konner Jordan added nine points.
Presque Isle boys 76, Foxcroft Academy 65 — Griffin Guerrette scored 39 points to lead the host Wildcats to their 10th win of the season against two losses.
Jonah Hudson chipped in with 16 points and Jack Bonville added 10 off the bench for Presque Isle, while Trace Cyr had a game-high 15 rebounds, including 10 offensive boards.
Drew Dankert scored 24 points, including an 11-for-12 effort from the free-throw line, for Foxcroft.
Easton boys 48, Wisdom 34 — At Easton, the Bears outscored the Pioneers of St. Agatha 15-7 in the fourth quarter to earn the victory.
Keagan Kinney and Noah Hanscomb each scored 12 points to lead 7-5 Easton, while Jack Guerrette paced 3-8 Wisdom with 16 points.
Caribou boys 70, Orono 54 –The Vikings came out on top in an important road game and moved its record to 5-8, while the Red Riots fell to 4-7. Four players reached double-digits in scoring for the Vikes, who used a 17-7 scoring run in the second quarter to take control.
Parker Deprey tallied 15 points, Nick Allen 14, Isaac Marker 13 and Sawyer Deprey 10 for the winners. Orono’s top scorer, Connor Robertson, was held to 10 points.
“We executed against their 1-3-1 zone defense well and defended Robertson well,” said Caribou coach Chris Casavant.
Caribou girls 50, Orono 42 — Caribou got past the pesky Red Riots in Orono behind a dominant inside performance by sophomore center Paige Espling, who scored 18 points and hauled in 28 rebounds.
Caribou’s Gabrielle Marquis led all scorers with 19 points as the Vikes won for the eighth time this season against five losses.
Lauren Melanson led the Red Riots (2-8) with 10 points.
Fort Fairfield girls 28, Shead 18 — Twin sisters Sara and Sadie Edgecomb combined for half of Fort Fairfield’s points in a home win over Shead of Eastport. Sara Edgecomb tossed in eight and Sadie added six as the Tigers improved to 8-6.
Madison Greenlaw’s six points paced the 6-7 Tigers.
Presque Isle girls 64, Foxcroft Academy 36 — Sydney Thompson came off the bench to score 13 points, including three 3-point field goals, to lead the Wildcats past the Ponies.
Five other players scored eight points apiece for 8-3 Presque Isle, including Emily Wheaton, Chrissy Skidgel, Maggie Castonguay, Madison Michaud and Molly Kingsbury.
Cassidy Marsh and Makenzie Beaudry paced 2-9 Foxcroft Academy with 10 points each.
Easton girls 30, Wisdom 23 — Isabelle Morin scored seven points, while Emma Lamoreau and Delaney Leach added six each to help the Bears, now 2-10, battle past Wisdom.
Alyssa Banville paced winless Wisdom (0-11) with 17 points.
Central Aroostook girls 41, Washburn 26 — Breanne Bradbury scored 15 points to lead the Panthers past the Beavers in Washburn. Macie Beals pitched in with nine points for 10-4 Central Aroostook.
Kassie Farley paced the Beavers, whose record fell to 3-9, with 12 points and Raegyn Chavez added eight.
Houlton boys 72, Southern Aroostook 30 — At Dyer Brook Saturday, the Shires rolled to the lopsided victory. Individual results were not reported.
Katahdin boys 56, Van Buren 38 — At Stacyville, the host Cougars used a 19-5 third-quarter surge and continued to pull away in the fourth quarter for the win over the Crusaders.
Brody Guiggey scored 15 points for the Cougars to lead all scorers. The Cougars also received nine points from Blake Howes and eight points from each of John McNally and Hunter Craig.
Van Buren was led in scoring by Colby Lavoie with 11 points, followed by Luc Perreault with 10.
Van Buren led 8-7 at the end of the first quarter, but the Cougars took a 20-19 edge into halftime and led 39-24 after three quarters.
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- Dylan Haley of Ashland uses a screen by teammate Josh Celestre to find a path to the basket past Fort Kent’s Camden Jandreau during a boys varsity basketball game at Fort Kent Community High School on Friday, Jan. 19. (Jessica Potila0
