The final week of the basketball regular season begins today, with only four more days of games remaining before the final Heal Points are tabulated and playoff brackets are established.
Due to school cancellations in the southern portion of Aroostook County, the only games on the schedule are Central Aroostook girls at Van Buren at 6:30 p.m. and Houlton at Calais girls at 7 p.m.
The scheduled girls contest between Washburn and Hodgdon will now be made up Tuesday as part of a doubleheader on the Hawks’ home floor. Game time will be 5:30 p.m., with the boys game between the two schools following at the scheduled time of 7 p.m.
Greater Houlton Christian Academy’s game at Van Buren is tentatively rescheduled for Tuesday at 5 p.m.
Summaries of basketball and hockey games played Friday and Saturday are as follows:
Boys basketball (Friday)
Shire Jaron Gentle, middle, takes the ball to the hoop while guarded by Mattanawcook Academy’s Jackson Weatherbee during Friday night’s game. Houlton fell 44-38. (Joseph Cyr)
Mattanawcook Academy 44, Houlton 38 — At Houlton, in a low-scoring game, the Shires fell to MA for the second time on the season. Alex Brown tossed in 14 points to lead Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln to victory. The Lynx improve to 11-5 with the win.
Cam Cleary scored a game-high 18 points for Houlton, who dropped to 13-4 on the season. Keegan Gentle added eight points and Nick Perfitt and Drew Foley each had four.
MA led 7-6 in the first quarter, but Houlton went up 15-13 at the halftime break. In the third period, the Lynx were back on top, 31-27.
Van Buren 46, Ashland 41 — At Ashland, Brandon Sytulek’s 18-point performance sparked the Crusaders to victory.
Luc Perreault tossed in 16 points for Van Buren, which outscored the Hornets 15-6 in the second quarter to take the lead for good.
Bailey Clark scored a game-high 19 points to pace Ashland. Steven Bellanceau added 11 points.
Central Aroostook 64, Madawaska 27 — The Panthers raced out to the big early lead at home and defeated the Owls.
Brayden Bradbury scored 10 of his 19 points in the first quarter and led CA offensively. Ben Thomas chipped in with 12 points.
Robbie Lausier had seven points to lead the Owls.
GHCA 60, Shead 51 — At Eastport, Will Austin led Greater Houlton Christian Academy with 19 points in its victory over the Tigers of Shead High School. Jeremy Stone and Parker Brewer each chipped in with 12 points and Isaac Potter added 10.
Shead was led by Ethan Lank who scored 21 points and Darren Turner with 18.
Boys basketball (Saturday)
Caribou 59, John Bapst 37 — The host Vikings scored the game’s first 11 points and led the entire way to defeat John Bapst of Bangor.
Nick Allen and Parker Deprey each had 12 points, and Alex Bouchard added 11 for 6-11 Caribou.
For the 3-14 Crusaders, Jagger Cummings scored 10 points and Ethan Newcombe added nine.
Hermon 70, Presque Isle 47 — Jacob Godfrey scored a game-high 23 points, including the 1,000th of his career between Machias and Hermon, to lead the visiting Hawks to their 17th victory without a loss.
Keenan Marseille chipped in with 12 points for Hermon while Garrett Trask scored 11 and Cody Hawes had 10.
Griffin Guerrette led 12-5 Presque Isle with 20 points and Jonah Hudson scored 14.
Houlton’s Cameron Clearly, left, puts up a shot over MA’s Cayden Spencer-Thompson during Friday night’s game. Cleary scored a game high 18 points, but the Shires fell 44-38. (Joseph Cyr)
East Grand 56, Washburn 39 — At Washburn, Lendin Stoddard’s 27 points helped the Vikings keep the Beavers winless.
The Vikings (5-11) were aided by Matthew Potter’s 13 points and Thomas Gilman’s 12.
Washburn, now 0-17, was led by Aidan Churchill and Carvor Pendexter with 13 points and 10 points, respectively.
Katahdin 77, Wisdom 59 — At Stacyville, the Cougars used a 28-point fourth quarter to pull away from the Pioneers and earn the victory. Katahdin’s Hunter Craig led all scorers with 34 points, followed by Brody Guiggey with 24. Cooper Drew pulled down nine rebounds and contributed six points for the Cougars.
Jack Guerrette netted 25 points for Wisdom of St. Agatha, including 12 from the free-throw line. Dylan Weyeneth posted 10 points for the Pioneers.
The Cougars led 14-13, 35-27 and 49-45 at the quarter breaks.
Girls basketball (Friday)
Katahdin 40, Easton 32 — Haley Landry scored 13 points to help the Cougars beat the Bears in Stacyville.
Natalie Rickards chipped in with 10 points for Katahdin, while Isabelle Morin paced Easton with 15 points and Lydia Ferris added 10.
Madawaska 47, Central Aroostook 40 — At Mars Hill, Madawaska picked up its 11th win of the season by avenging an earlier loss to Central Aroostook.
Brianne Thibeault scored a game-high 15 points to lead the Owls and Jenna Dugal chipped in with 14 for the 11-5 Owls.
Caitlyn Harris’s 12 points were tops for the 11-6 Panthers.
Ashland 62, Van Buren 15 — At Ashland, the Hornets jumped out to a 21-6 lead at the end of the first quarter en route to the win.
Amber Chasse led Ashland with 15 points, Jamie Poulin added 13 and Morgan Doughty put in 12.
Emma Lajoie paced Van Buren with eight points.
Playoff-bound Ashland finished the regular season with a 9-9 record, while Van Buren is now 4-12.
Woodland 58, Hodgdon 28 — At Baileyville, the Hodgdon girls dropped to 8-8 on the season with the loss to Woodland. Individual results were not reported.
Shire Drew Foley looks for an open teammate to pass the ball to during Friday night’s contest against Mattanawcook Academy. Houlton fell 44-38. (Joseph Cyr)
Houlton 52, Central 39 — At Corinth, Kolleen Bouchard scored 17 of her 19 points in the second half, including 9-for-9 from the free throw line to lead undefeated Houlton by Central. Teagan Ewings chipped in with 10 and Tessa Solomon had eight for the Shiretowners (16-0).
Sydney Allen led the 14-2 Red Devils with 18 points. Both of Central’s losses this year are to Houlton.
The Shires led 14-10, 24-18 and 37-26 at the quarter breaks.
Southern Aroostook 59, Wisdom 25 — At St. Agatha, the Warriors improved to 14-2 on the season with the lopsided win over Wisdom. Individual results were not reported.
Girls basketball (Saturday)
Presque Isle 62, Hermon 54 — Emily Wheaton scored a career-high 39 points as the Wildcats collected a point-worthy home win over Hermon, who went into the day as the No. 1 team in Class B North.
Presque Isle jumped out to an 11-0 lead and led the entire game despite many comeback bids from the Hawks, who made nine 3-point shots during the game.
Sydney Thompson added nine points for the 12-5 Wildcats and Maggie Castonguay chipped in with eight. Presque Isle also was strong from the perimeter, hitting eight 3-pointers.
Maddie Pullen tallied 13 points, Lauren Plissey 11 and Paige Plissey 10 for 15-2 Hermon.
John Bapst 61, Caribou 37 — John Bapst broke open a close game by out scoring the Vikings 23-7 in the fourth quarter in a game played in Caribou.
Caleigh Lebel and Crystal Bell paced a balanced Crusader attack with 11 points each. Abbey Lagasse scored 10 and Tia Zephir added eight for 14-3 John Bapst.
For 8-9 Caribou, Paige Espling had 10 points and Searra Herbert scored nine .
Washburn 55, East Grand 45 — Junior Kassie Farley poured in a game-high 30 points and the Beavers rallied from a 12-point first-half deficit to pick up the victory at Washburn.
Alexis Carney chipped in with 10 points for the 5-11 winners and Raegyn Chavez had eight more.
Haleigh Shay paced 4-13 East Grand of Danforth with 16 points. Jordyn Cowger and Mallory Gilman scored 13 and 10, respectively.
Katahdin 50, Wisdom 11 — At Stacyville, Natalie Rickards scored 11 points as the Cougars topped Wisdom of St. Agatha. Haley Landry chipped in with 10 points for Katahdin while Hannah Drew added eight points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
Wisdom was led by Emma Chamberland with three points.
Hockey
Presque Isle 10, Messalonskee 2 — Jake Stevens scored two goals and Thomas Patenaude racked up three assists to go along with a goal as the Wildcats pounded the Eagles Saturday.
Seven other PI players recorded goals, including Colby Bonville, Colby Carlisle, Colin Daigle, Connor DeMerchant, Gage LeTourneau, Bailey York and Torey Levesque. Bryce Bonville and Brandon Poitras handled the goalie chores and combined to face 14 shots.
Myles Hammond scored both Eagle goals and Eli Michaud faced 48 shots.
We executed our game plan very well and everyone got significant playing time,” said PI coach Carl Flynn. “We executed our penalty kill and power play very well.”
The Wildcats improved to 10-4 and remain in third place in the Class B North standings. Messalonskee is now 2-12.
Camden Hills 3, Black Hawks 1 — At the Midcoast Recreation Center in Rockport, the Houlton-Hodgdon-Southern Aroostook-Katahdin hockey team fell to Camden Hills Saturday. Individual results were not reported.
