FORT FAIRFIELD, Maine — The Fort Fairfield girls varsity basketball team is made up of many fresh faces to rollout for the Class C season.
The Tigers have been working hard to figure out their strengths for this year, with many new players to figure out what kind of team Fort Fairfield will be. The Tigers lost five players to graduation — with three of them being starters that will be hard to replace.
“We have a lot of work to do this season in order to compete as there are a lot of very good teams on our schedule,” Coach Larry Gardner said. “We have made postseason play in each of the last 24 years and certainly want to continue that postseason run if possible.
It will be Coach Gardner’s 25th season with the Tigers, he started as the boys varsity basketball coach in 1980 and coached for nine years. After taking a decade off, Gardner returned to coach the girls varsity basketball team.
Last season, the Tigers finished the regular season 7-9 and battled through a lot of injuries and illnesses. It would cost the Tigers a playoff match against Central of East Corinth, who finished 3rd with a record of 15-3 for Class C.
Members of the 2022-2023 Tigers are returning seniors Jayde McKenney, Kassidy Gorneault, and sophomore Brianna Osterblom. Newcomers are juniors Laney Devine, Lydia Goreneault, Brittany Bragg, sophomores Morgan Castonguay, Mattey Devine, Mercedes Lajoie, Cady Stairs. Freshmen are Madison Perry, Riley Michaud, Sare Bernard, and Clare Kilcollins.
The Tigers have yet to decide their starters for the 2022-2023 season, Coach Garder thinks it will take awhile to see who can compete for a starting spot on the court.
Gardner said the Tigers will play a tough schedule made up of Class C and D teams. In Class C, Hodgdon will be a difficult team to compete against, along with Fort Kent with most of their team returning from last year. Class D has Southern Aroostook being an exceptionally tough team to beat, similarly Wisdom will have most of its team back for the 2022-2023 season.
“In addition, every team and game on our schedule will certainly be a challenge and we will have to play well to be competitive in each game,” Gardner said.
The Tigers have won a state championship in the past and will work hard to make that happen again when the ball hits the court.
