Washburn girls gunning for unprecedented 5th straight title
Take away four-year starters Carmen Bragg, Carsyn Koch and Nicole Olson from the Washburn Beavers and what do you get?
Another undefeated season, that’s what.
As if four consecutive Class D championships weren’t enough, Washburn is in good position to make a run at a fifth, which would be a new Maine schoolgirl record, as the team is ranked No. 1 in the division with an 18-0 record.
Coach Diana Trams has been around for the last two championships, while seniors Mackenzie Worcester and Joan Overman were members of the last three gold ball-winning squads.
Washburn was tested a few times during the regular season, with Fort Fairfield providing two of the challenges (three- and five-point margins) and Easton and Van Buren were also able to keep the score close for awhile. However, the Beavers proved to be too much.
Worcester put up huge numbers, averaging 27 points, six rebounds, seven assists and six steals per contest. Overman also came up big by averaging 12 points, eight rebounds, five assists and five steals per game.
Laine Mette, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, returned healthy and helped in the teams’ uptempo style by scoring six points and collecting three steals per outing. Emilia Churchill, a key reserve on last year’s team, moved into the starting five and provided six points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals per game.
Grace Braley, Natalie Doody and Mikayla Churchill also provided the Beavers with some solid play during the regular season.
Trams said the regular season is over and it’s time to focus on the next phase — the playoffs.
“We don’t place any significance or importance in going undefeated,” Trams said. “We played well enough to win our regular season games, but I still don’t feel like we’ve played up to our full potential yet.”
Washburn has obviously been a great playoff team over the past four years and Trams said the experience is helpful.
“It can give you an edge and channel that nervous energy,” she said, “but I think the most important thing is that players have confidence in themselves and their teammates.”
The Fort Fairfield Tigers of coach Larry Gardner were unbeaten outside of the team’s games against Washburn and finished third in the rankings.
The Tigers needed a late comeback to outlast Van Buren early in the season and in the rematch last week, the score stayed close until down the stretch, but in the other 14 wins, Fort Fairfield dominated.
The Tigers displayed a stingy defense, allowing an average of 29 ppg.
Offensively, the Tigers feature good balance, with five players averaging between nine and 10 points per game. Six different players have led FF in scoring in individual games. Chelsey Pelkey is the floor general, while Taylor Churchill and Kayla Giberson join Teresa Maynard and Meg Jellison as key veterans.
Gardner said the tournament will be competitive from top to bottom.
“It is still Washburn’s to win or lose, but there is pretty good balance as a whole and whoever gets hot could come away with the title,” he said. “We have not played our best game yet, as I keep telling our players, and if we can ever put 32 minutes together, we could be pretty good.”
Coach Bryan Shaw likes what he has seen from his Easton Bears, although the team was recently as high as No. 2 in the standings and dropped down all the way to eighth when the final rankings were released, despite winning four of their last five.
Easton has nine seniors who Shaw says “really want a taste of post-season play beyond a prelim,” and a home win over PVHS Tuesday would secure just that.
Three of the seniors — Kylee Carter, Kalie Ward and Hannah Ferris — are the offensive leaders, averaging 11, nine and nine ppg, respectively. Sophomore Elise Allen chips in with six per game, while Taylor Brown is the other starter.
“Our team needs to stay confident and just play ball,” Shaw said. “If we do that, than we have the potential to go far in the post-season.”
After not qualifying last season, the Central Aroostook Panthers are in the playoffs with their 8-10 record.
CA is very young, with only one senior on the roster, so coach Joe Levesque said this is a good opportunity to get some experience in the post-season.
“We first have to learn to play and then learn to win, and the more games we play, the quicker the learning curve,” he said.
Karli Levesque, a junior, leads the team in scoring with 14 points per game. She also is the top rebounder, hauling in an average of seven per contest.
Freshman Kassie Levesque averages 10 ppg, whie Molly Anthony comes in at eight per game and Kelsey Dominique at six per game.
Freshman Isabelle Wright starts in the frontcourt and averages four rebounds per contest.
In Class B, the Presque Isle Wildcats are back in the hunt thanks to the play of senior co-captains Hannah Graham and Krystal Kingsbury, who are the two leading scorers in the Big East Conference, both averaging around 16.5 ppg.
PI also features a dangerous three-point attack, with four players shooting at least 40 percent.
“We knew we had a strong team coming into the season,” said coach Jeff Hudson. “We just had to work hard and play the way we are capable of playing.”
The Wildcats went 16-2 and their lone blemishes were against MDI, who went undefeated and is the top seed in the division.
“We want another crack at them, but we realize we have a long ways to go and can’t afford to look ahead,” Hudson said.
Juniors Regan Nelson and Taylor Williams and sophomore Emily Lagerstrom start alongside Graham and Kingsbury, with freshman Emily Wheaton the first off the bench.
“We need to play with confidence,” Hudson said. “We know we are capable of beating anyone and are excited to get going.”
