By Jere Humphrey
Houlton Basketball Commissioner
Although the top-seeded women’s team, The Force, had a first round bye, it didn’t take long for them to get back to their winning ways.
The Force team advances to the Women’s League championship game by defeating Hoops, We Did it Again by a lopsided score of 65-41, during this week’s semifinals.
This game would be one to go into the record books, as the highest scoring game of the 2014-15 season, by any of the teams associated with the Ladies League.
Hoops Again (4-4) actually controlled the early game advantage, but were unable to contain the explosive offense of the Force (7-1). The deciding difference in the contest was the long-range ball, as each team had nearly equal field goals. The Force took the 27-18 score into halftime break, even though they were playing with only five team members.
The Force, who has dominated the League all season, proved their team could play both ends of the court, by blocking a game high six shots and holding the opponent’s leading scorer scoreless in the second half. The Force, also outscored Hoops Again, 38-23, in the second half.
The huge efforts of Tanika Toby and great positioning allowed her team to outrebound their opponents 42-32. Toby hauled down not only a game-high, but season-high 17 rebounds. She leads the League with 10.9 rebounds per game.
Olivia McNally proved why she is vying for “Most Outstanding Player” of the Houlton Basketball Association Women’s League after being the first player to exceed the 110-point club after a 22-point effort. McNally not only led her team, but all players with game-high steals (four) and assists (five) in Sunday’s game and leads both columns in the overall league.
Sarah Riopel also had another outstanding scoring game matching her teammate with 22 points and seven rebounds. Erika Jackett finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks.
The Hoops Again were led in scoring by Katherine Currie with a team-high 10 points and nine rebounds. Three other players all tallied seven points a piece — Erica Tweedie, Martha McPartland and Jenna Owen.
In the early game Sunday, the Alley Oops (5-3) were able to automatically advance since the Soup A Stars were unable to field a team with player eligibility guidelines.
