The Shires return the majority of their squad from last season’s successful campaign that saw the team win the state Class C gold ball.
“With the new classification, the competition will be much stiffer on a nightly basis,” said 12th-year coach Shawn Graham. “However, If there ever was a time to move up, this would be the group that I feel can handle the task. I believe we will be very competitive regardless of the new changes and we will set a goal for a tournament spot come February and hopefully have a strong showing.”
Katahdin, Hodgdon, and East Grand also opened the season Friday evening, but struggled in their first outings. The Cougars of Stacyville rebounded nicely Monday however, picking up a 56-26 win over Bangor Christian.
The following is a recap of games reported as of Monday evening.
Houlton 64, Washington Academy 26 — At Houlton Monday, Kolleen Bouchard led a balanced-scoring attack with 19 points, 13 rebounds and six assists en route to victory against Mattanawcook Academy.
Natalie Hill and Rylee Warman each contributed 14 points while Katie Condon added 12. Houlton made 10-of-13 (77 percent) free throws in the game.
Katie Tolman paced the Lynx of with seven points.
Houlton led 16-8, 29-14 and 47-19 at the quarter breaks.
Bangor Christian 26, Katahdin 56 — At Stacyville Monday, Georgia Landry led Katahdin with 19 points for the Cougars’ first win of the season. Courtney Stevens added 10 points and Natalie Rickards had nine for Katahdin.
Leading Bangor Christian was Abby Cross with nine points.
Houlton 58, Orono 35 — At Orono Saturday, Bouchard and Warman led a balanced scoring attack with 14 points apiece with Hill contributing nine points and Megan Collett adding six in the Houlton victory.
Orono was led by Kassidy Dill with 11 points, and Sydney Robertson and Hannah Clement with eight and six points, respectively.
Hodgdon 39, Washburn 49 — At Hodgdon Friday, the Hawks drew a difficult matchup with defending state champion Washburn Friday evening.
Emilia Churchill netted a game-high 22 points for Washburn, while Grace Braley added 16 points. Leading Hodgdon were Sydney Howell with 18 points and Megan Russell with eight.
“We never settle for anything less than our best, but we feel that we have a lot of positive things to take away from the game and build on,” said Hodgdon coach Taylor Quint. “One of the most obvious being Sydney Howell’s ability to score as she scored 18 points, but the most amazing part of that was her ability to do so while having one of the toughest assignments on defense.
“Unfortunately a lot of our outside shots weren’t falling for us and (Washburn) sat in a 2-3, but our guards showed a ton of growth from a year ago with their recognition of the defense, having composure, and running the offense,” she said.
The Hawks’ defensive game plan put a lot of pressure on guards Taylor Desrosiers and Sydney Howell.
“Overall we are excited to get back into the gym and take care of those little things,” Quint said. “But we believe in ourselves as a team and if we continue to put the work in, that is going to take us a long way.”
PVHS 66, Katahdin 42 — At Stacyville Friday, Amy Hallett poured in 33 points to power the Howlers of Howland by the Cougars in a mutual opener.
Sam Ireland chipped in with 28 points for PVHS.
Landry paced Katahdin with 16 points and Stevens added nine.
East Grand 37, Woodland 54 — At Baileyville Friday, the Vikings opened the season with a loss. Individual game results were not reported.
