The regular season in basketball is now complete, but Friday and Saturday will still feature plenty of other varsity sports action with some championships to be decided.
The Penobscot Valley Conference boys’ swimming championship meet is Friday at 6 p.m. at the University of Maine at Orono, with the girls PVC championships slated for Saturday at 2 p.m.
The state championships in cheering are set for Saturday at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. Two local teams are participating after qualifying at the regionals two weekends ago.
Central Aroostook will be going after its fifth consecutive Class D state title. The Panthers placed second to Penobscot Valley High School of Howland at the regional. The D competition begins at 2 p.m.
Houlton is once again competing in the Class C state cheering competition starting at 10 a.m. The Shires have been a mainstay in the state event, participating for at least the past eight straight seasons.
The Houlton cheerleaders finished third in 2017; were fifth in 2016; seventh in 2015; fourth in 2014; fourth in 2013; fifth in 2012; and state champs in 2011.
Caribou will attend the Class B regionals in wrestling. The event will be held Saturday at Mt. View High School in Thorndike beginning at 9:30 a.m.
The Aroostook League alpine ski championships take place Saturday at Bigrock Ski Area in Mars Hill. Slalom and giant slalom titles will be up for grabs at the meet, which begins at 9 a.m.
A pivotal regular season hockey match will be played at the Forum in Presque Isle as the No. 3 Wildcats host the No. 4 Hampden Academy Broncos. The puck drops at 1:15 p.m.
The Houlton-Hodgdon-Southern Aroostook-Katahdin Black Hawks are also looking to keep their hockey playoff hopes alive when the team travels to Old Town Friday to take on Old Town/Orono at 6 p.m. The Black Hawks are 4-8-1 on the year and in the sixth, and final, playoff spot in the Class B North standings.
Summaries of Thursday’s basketball games are as follows:
Boys basketball
Houlton 74, Calais 52 — At Calais, Cameron Cleary scored a game-high 20 points to lead the Shiretowners past the Blue Devils. Keegan Gentle added 11 points, while Nolan Porter and Jaron Gentle each netted 10 for Houlton (14-4).
The Blue Devils (7-11) were led by by senior Bobby Moholland with 18 points. It was his first career varsity game and he made the most of it connecting on nine field goals. Jacob Hornbrook added 12 points and Dawson Critchley had 11.
Caleb Harris eyes the rim on this layup attempt during Central Aroostook’s game at Fort Kent Thursday. (Jessica Potila)
Houlton led 19-6, 38-17 and 56-38 at the quarter breaks.
Katahdin 69, Southern Aroostook 63 — At Stacyville, the Cougars picked up a thrilling six-point victory over cross-town rival Southern Aroostook. Individual results were not immediately available.
Presque Isle 74, Caribou 57 — At Presque Isle, Griffin Guerrette scored a career-high 44 points as the Wildcats scored the Senior Night victory.
Guerrette, a senior guard, had 16 points in the first quarter, then went scoreless in the second period before erupting for 28 second-half points.
Caleb Wheaton chipped in with 14 points, connecting on four 3-pointers in the process, for 13-5 Presque Isle.
Caribou, which led by five points after the first quarter, was led by Nick Allen with 16 points. Austin Findlen scored 15 and Alex Bouchard added 11. The Vikings finished with a 6-12 record.
Fort Kent 58, Central Aroostook 49 — The Warriors led at all the quarter breaks en route to the home victory over the Panthers.
Jace Rocheleau spearheaded a balanced offense for Fort Kent (14-4) with 14 points, while Jacob Daigle scored 13. Camden Jandreau and Caleb Delisle contributed 12 and 11 points, respectively
Ben Thomas led Central Aroostook of Mars Hill (13-5) with 14 points. Jacob Carvell posted 10 points and Brayden Bradbury added nine.
Fort Fairfield 61, Easton 49 — The Tigers outlasted a stubborn Easton team to claim the victory in Fort Fairfield.
Jared Harvey led 16-2 Fort Fairfield with 21 points while Isaac Cyr added 10 and Liam McNamee chipped in with nine.
Easton (11-7) was led by Collin Sotomayor with 23 points and Keegan Kinney added 13.
Girls basketball
Southern Aroostook 57, Katahdin 25 — At Dyer Brook, Southern Aroostook (16-2) used a balanced scoring attack to upend Katahdin of Stacyville (10-8).
Kassidy Mathers led the Warriors with 12 points and 7 steals, Kacy Daggett contributed 11 points and 10 rebounds, Kylie Vining scored 11 points and Makaelyn Porter provided 10 points and seven assists.
Hannah Drew led Katahdin with 12 points, while Haley Landry added nine.
SA led 12-8, 26-13 and 45-16 at the quarter breaks.
Easton 60, Washburn 40 — Isabelle Morin poured in 33 points as the Bears secured a playoff spot with the victory in Washburn.
Easton led by one point at intermission before going on a 37-18 scoring run the rest of the way to win comfortably.
Kassie Farley scored 13 points and Alexis Carney added 12 for the Beavers.
By winning, Easton broke a tie in the Class D standings with Van Buren, who lost to Madawaska. The Bears advance to Tuesday’s preliminary playoffs as the No. 10 seed. Both the Bears and Beavers finished with identical 5-13 records, with Washburn advancing as the No. 8 seed in Class D.
Houlton 65, Hodgdon 30 — At Houlton on Senior Night, Kolleen Bouchard scored 32 points, made eight steals and grabbed five rebounds to carry the Shires to victory in her final regular season game.
Sophomore Teagan Ewings scored 12 points and senior Aspen Flewelling tallied 10 (including 3 3-pointers) for Houlton, who finished the regular season with a perfect 18-0 record.
Hodgdon (9-9) was led by Kora Lambert with nine points and Sydney Howell with six.
Houlton led 15-5, 30-17 and 45-23 at the quarter breaks.
Alpine skiing
A tune-up meet for Saturday’s Aroostook League championship was held at Bigrock Ski Area in Mars Hill. Fort Kent earned wins in both girls’ slalom races and both boys’ slalom races with perfect scores of 10 in each.
Caribou and Presque Isle tied for second and Central Aroostook was fourth in the first boys race, while Central Aroostook placed second, Caribou third and PI fourth in the other.
In both girls’ races, the Vikings took second and the Wildcats third.
Kyler Caron of Presque Isle was sixth, Taylor Campbell of Central Aroostook seventh and Scott Bray of Caribou eighth in the first boys race. Lane Grass was sixth and Campbell eight in the second one. Riley Roderick of PI was 10th and Aiden Plante of Caribou 12th.
Hope Shea was sixth and Maren Moir eighth to lead Caribou in the first girls race. Grace Bemis, who was 11th, paced Presque Isle. Shea, Moir and Bemis were eighth, ninth and 10th, respectively, in the second.
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- Focused on the rim as she heads in for a shot is Southern Aroostook’s Makaelyn Porter, right, as Katahdin’s Hannah Kyllonen takes a swipe at the ball during Thursday’s game. SA won 57-25. (Joseph Cyr)
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- Haley Landry, right, of Katahdin passes the ball while guarded closely by Southern Aroostook’s Kylie Vining during Thursday night’s regular season finale. SA won 57-25. (Joseph Cyr)
