The regular season is winding to a close for girls basketball, with four of the five teams in the Pioneer Times area in the playoff picture.
In Class D North, Southern Aroostook (7-2, 31.0494 points) is the top-ranked team as of Tuesday morning. The Warriors dodged a bullet Monday evening as East Grand/GHCA took SACS to overtime before the Warriors won.
Katahdin (6-6, 17.2840) is ranked sixth in Class D North, while East Grand/GHCA (4-6, 6.9136) is 10th. The top 10 teams make the playoffs.
If the postseason began today, SACS would get a bye directly to Bangor and face the winner of No. 8 vs. No. 9 (currently Ashland and Easton) in the quarterfinal round.
Katahdin would also get a bye and face No. 3 (currently Washburn) in the quarterfinals.
If East Grand/GHCA remains 10th, the Vikings would have to play a preliminary game against the No. 7 seed (currently Wisdom).
Houlton (9-1, 53.3333 points) is ranked first in Class B North The Shires hold a slim 1.7 point lead over Mount Desert Island (9-1, 51.6667) for the top spot. Houlton fell to MDI in Bar Harbor earlier in the year. The top four teams in the region earn a bye directly to Bangor.
In Class C North, Hodgdon (1-8, 3.1481) is in 16th. The top 12 teams qualify for the playoffs, which means the Hawks would need a number of wins to re-enter the mix.
The following is a recap of games played through Monday.
So. Aroostook 65, East Grand/GHCA 59 — At Danforth Monday, the Warriors needed overtime to pull out a win over the scrappy East Grand/GHCA Vikings.
The two teams were tied 7-7 in the first quarter, with the Vikings leading 29-25 at halftime and 43-42 after three periods. Southern Aroostook rallied to tie 51-51 at the end of regulation and then went on a 14-8 run to close in overtime.
SACS’ freshman Kassidy Mathers tossed in 23 points to lead the Warriors, while freshman Kyle Vining chipped in 15 and eighth-grader Sydney Brewer netted 11.
Junior Sarah Stoddard paced East Grand/Greater Houlton Christian Academy with a game-high 26 points and 15 rebounds. Sophomore Haleigh Shay connected for 22 points. Viking freshman Mallory Gillman sent the game into overtime with a layup at the end of regulation.
Katahdin 46, Bangor Christian 12 — At Bangor Monday, senior Courtney Stevens tallied 12 points to lead Katahdin to the easy victory. Junior Georgia Landry added 11 points and senior Molly Cunningham chipped in 10 for the Cougars.
Kelsea DeRoche led Bangor Christian with seven points.
Katahdin led 12-5, 27-5 and 41-8 at the quarter breaks.
East Grand/GHCA 24, Limestone 42 — At Limestone Saturday, Jackie Peers led all scorers with 18 points to propel the Eagles to the win over the Vikings. Madeline Williams chipped in nine points.
For East Grand/Greater Houlton Christian Academy, Shay led the way with 13 points and Stoddard added seven.
The two squads were tied 6-6 after the first quarter, but the Eagles took a 23-10 lead into the halftime break and led 35-13 after three periods.
Katahdin 36, Fort Fairfield 50 — At Fort Fairfield Saturday, the Tigers avenged an earlier season loss with a win over the visiting Cougars. Chelsey Pelkey and Taylor Churchill paced the Tigers with 23 and 17 points, respectively.
For Katahdin, Cunningham and Stevens both netted 11 points, while Landry chipped in 10.
The Tigers led 21-8, 34-18 and 38-20 at the quarter breaks.
Central Aroostook 43, Hodgdon 26 — At Hodgdon Friday, Ashlee Harris scored a game-high 16 points as Central Aroostook rolled past the Hawks. Kassie Levesque chipped in with nine points.
Sophomore Sydney Howell paced Hodgdon with nine points, while sophomore Janelle Goff added six.
The Panthers led 8-2, 20-10 and 30-17 at the quarter breaks.
Katahdin 40, PVHS 66 — At Howland Thursday, Sami Ireland connected for a game-high 22 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked five shots to lead the Howlers to victory. Amy Hallett provided 18 points, eight rebounds, five blocks and five steals for PVHS, while Arianna McKinnon and MiKayla Roy each scored 11 points.
For Katahdin, Stevens paced the Cougars with 16 points, while sophomore Natalie Rickards chipped in 10.
Easton 44, So. Aroostook 49 — At Dyer Brook Jan. 6, freshman Kylie Vining scored 13 points to lead the Warriors over Easton. Mathers and Brewer each added 10 points and Katelyn Slauenwhite had eight for SACS.
The Bears were led by Isabelle Morin with a game-high 17 points.
SACS led 17-9, 24-15 and 38-26 at the quarter breaks.
Hodgdon 24, Wisdom 38 — At St. Agatha Jan. 6, Rhylee Wright led Wisdom with 14 points, while Kim Blanchette and Melanie Bellefleur each had six for the Pioneers.
Howell led the Hawks with eight points.
Wisdom led 9-8, 17-16 and 29-20 at the quarter breaks.
