Two of the top six teams in Class C North will play an important boys basketball game in Mars Hill Thursday evening. The No. 3 Central Aroostook Panthers, with their 12-3 record, take on the No. 6 Houlton Shiretowners, which enters with a 9-3 mark.
The teams met on the opening night of the season Dec. 8, with the host Shires coming away with the 63-49 victory.
The Washburn boys, still winless at 0-12, will take on the second-ranked team in Class C North, Fort Fairfield (11-2), at 7 p.m. on the Tigers’ home floor.
Thursday’s schedule also includes a doubleheader in Ashland between the Hornets and the Fort Kent Warriors. The girls game is set to tip off at 5:30 p.m., followed by the boys at 7 p.m. Also, the Katahdin boys travel to Southern Aroostook for a 7 p.m. contest.
Alpine skiing on Wednesday
A make-up alpine ski meet was held at Lonesome Pine Trails in Fort Kent Wednesday under the lights, with Caribou and Central Aroostook joining the host Warriors for the competition. Presque Isle did not participate due to mid-term exams.
For the boys, Fort Kent placed first in both slalom races, with Central Aroostook in second and Caribou third. The Panthers were led by Lane Grass, who was fifth both times. His time was 1:33.92 in the first race and 1:36.17 in the second. Taylor Campbell and Bryant Grass also logged top-10 performances for CA. Scott Bray of Caribou placed 10th in the first race and 13th in the second.
The Warrior girls defeated the Vikings in both races. Caribou’s Hope Shea was fifth in race one in 1:41.41 and fourth in the second race in 1:46.38. Her younger sister Edie was 12th in the first race and 10th in the second.
Summaries of basketball games played on Wednesday are as follows:
Girls basketball
Fort Fairfield 45, Washburn 44 — The Tigers improved to 9-6 after winning a close game at Washburn.
The Tigers led by eight points at halftime and held off the comeback attempt. Brenna LeVasseur scored 12 points, Cammi King-DeMerchant had 11 and Sara Edgecomb 10 for Fort Fairfield.
The Beavers’ Kassie Farley led all scorers with 25 points and Alexis Carney was also in double figures with 10. Washburn’s record dropped to 3-10.
Houlton 72, Central Aroostook 38 — At Houlton, Kolleen Bouchard scored 33 points and had four steals as the Shires picked up their 12th win of the season in commanding fashion. Houlton improved to 12-0 with the victory.
Teagan Ewings added 12 points and Aspen Flewelling scored nine (all on 3-pointers) for the Shires.
Central Aroostook of Mars Hill (10-5) was led by Breanne Bradbury with 14 points.
The Shires led 28-11, 42-20 and 61-29 at the quarter breaks.
Southern Aroostook 60, Hodgdon 32 — At Hodgdon, Makaelyn Porter scored 25 points to lead Southern Aroostook of Dyer Brook past the Hawks. Kylie Vining added 10 points and Kassidy Mathers nine for the Warriors.
Kora Lambert scored nine points to pace Hodgdon, while Sabra Scott added eight.
“Coming off Monday’s game (against Houlton), I felt there was potential to come out flat, which we did,” SACS coach Cliff Urquhart said. “Our traps didn’t look good, we were not moving our feet well. We didn’t play with the same intensity, early, that we have had all year.”
Coach Urquhart said Hodgdon had a good game plan, defensively, packing the paint to force SA into taking shots from the perimeter. Early on, those shots were not falling, but eventually the Warriors heated up.
The Warriors led 18-8 at the end of the first quarter, and was up 28-14 at the half, and led 42-22 after three periods. SACS outscored Hodgdon 18-10 in the final period for the victory.
“Hodgdon has improved tremendously and has had a great season,” Urquhart said. “I think they will be able to sneak in to the playoffs, which would be great for coach (Wendell) Harvey.”
East Grand 45, Highview Christian 33 — At Johnston Gymnasium in Bangor, Hayleigh Shay tossed in a game-high 23 points to propel East Grand of Danforth to victory over Highview Christian Academy of Charleston.
Mallory Gilman chipped in 12 points for the Vikings, who picked up their second straight win to improve to 2-9 on the season.
The 2-11 Knights were led by 13 points from Megan McDonald and nine points each from Cassidy Lessner and Javona Philbrick.
Boys basketball
Fort Fairfield 70, Hodgdon 55 — The Tigers improved to 11-2 on the season with an impressive win over Hodgdon. Earlier in the season, Fort Fairfield barely got by the Hawks, 56-55 at home. Hodgdon drops to 4-10 on the season. Individual results were not reported.
East Grand 53, Highview Christian 30 — At Johnston Gymnasium in Bangor, Matthew Potter and Thomas Gilman combined for 30 points to lead East Grand of Danforth past Highview Christian of Charleston.
T.J. Sheldon scored 14 points and Noah Kepple added 10 for Highview Christian.
With the victory, East Grand improved to 3-8, while Highview Christian drops to 2-11.
