Tough night for local girls squads in prelim round

by Contributed
7 years ago
Katherine Alley, left, of Stearns battles with Hodgdon's Emma Drew Tuesday evening to establish position during a Class C preliminary playoff in Millinocket. Hodgdon fell 65-36. (Courtesy of Angela Sherman)

Tuesday was a tough day for Aroostook County girls basketball teams in the preliminary round of the Maine Principals’ Association tournament.

Only girls squads from Fort Kent and Caribou were successful in their prelim games Tuesday evening to earn a spot in the tourney at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. That tournament begins Friday evening.

Summaries of five games involving teams from the region are as follows:

No. 4 Stearns 65, No. 13 Hodgdon 36 — At Millinocket in a Class C North prelim game, Hodgdon led early, but a 22-6 run by Stearns in the second quarter created a gap too large for the Hawks to overcome.

Fort Fairfield’s Riley Clough (42) tries to defend an inbound pass from Fort Kent’s Cassidy Lovely during Tuesday’s preliminary playoff game. Fort Kent won the game, 51-35, against the visiting Tigers. (Don Eno)

Katherine Alley and Peighton Ingersoll scored 14 points each to lead five Stearns scorers in double figures. Sidney Farquhar and Julia Stanley added 12 points each for Stearns while Marissa Marter scored 11.

Hodgdon was led by Sydney Howell with nine points and Kora Lambert added eight.

Stearns improves to 16-3 overall and draws No. 5 Central of East Corinth in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, Feb. 20, at 7:05 p.m. Hodgdon ends its season with a 9-10 record.

Hodgdon led 9-8 in the first quarter, but trailed 30-15 by halftime and was down 53-28 after three periods.

No. 7 Fort Kent 51, No. 10 Fort Fairfield 35 — At Fort Kent, Desirae Hafford scored 11 of her game-high 21 points in the first quarter, including three 3-pointers, as No. 7 Fort Kent jumped out to a 15-5 lead in their Class C prelim and went on to post the victory, its 13th of the season.

Libby LaPointe tallied 11 points for the winners and Jordan O’Leary contributed seven more. The Warriors will take on Dexter Tuesday, Feb. 20, at 11:05 a.m. in the quarterfinal round.

No. 10 Fort Fairfield finished at 12-7 and lost to the Warriors in all three meetings. Cammi King-Demerchant’s 10 points led the Tigers, while Amber Sherwood added nine and Brenna Levasseur six.

No. 7 Schenck 53, No. 10 Easton 42 — Samantha Falone led Schenck’s balanced scoring attack with 18 points and she also grabbed 10 rebounds as seventh-seeded Schenck eliminated No. 10 Easton in the Class D matchup played at East Millinocket.

Cassie Russell added 13 points for the 10-9 winners and Allison Noddin and Baileigh Osborne contributed eight apiece. Schenck will now take on No. 2 Woodland in the quarterfinals Saturday at 9:05 p.m.

Easton, which wound up 5-14, was paced by Isabelle Morin’s 11 points and Emma Lamoreau’s nine, which all came from beyond the three-point arc.

No. 9 Jonesport-Beals 49, No. 8 Washburn 38 — Lydia Alley scored 17 points to lead No. 9 Jonesport-Beals past No. 8 Washburn in the Class D North prelim played in Washburn.

The Beavers trailed by three points at halftime but went up by 10 midway through the third quarter before the Royalettes made their comeback.

Kaylee Ireland tossed in 12 points for the winners, who improved to 9-10 and will take on Southern Aroostook in the quarterfinals Monday at 3:35 p.m.

Alexis Carney led Washburn (5-14) with 13 points and Kassie Farley added 11.

No. 11 Calais 54, No. 6 Central Aroostook 42 — At Mars Hill, the 11th-seeded Blue Devils of Calais hit six 3-pointers and upended sixth-seed Central Aroostook to move on to the Class C quarterfinals.

For Calais, Lauren Cook led all scorers with 17 points while Olivia Huckins added 13 points and Libby Bitar chipped in 12. They will play No. 3 Narraguagus in the next round on Tuesday, Feb. 20, at 9:30 a.m.

Central Aroostook was led by Breann Bradbury with 14 points and Ashlee Harris with 12. The Panthers finished the season with a 12-7 mark.