By Joseph Cyr
Sports Editor
The second week of high school basketball featured a number of exciting contests as teams are starting to find their rhythm on the court. Only two of the eight Aroostook County squads in the newspaper’s coverage area still boast undefeated records as Presque Isle and Washburn remain unbeaten on the season.
Contributed photo/jMavor Photography
Caribou’s Dayna Michaud, right, battles Mattanawcook’s Abbie Priest for possession of the ball during a game played Thursday in Lincoln. The Vikings were beaten, 53-42.
Squads will not have much of a holiday respite this year as regular season games are scheduled during the school recess.
The Maine Principals’ Association Heal Points standings as of Tuesday morning were:
Eastern Class B —3, Presque Isle (3-0, 3.6420 points) and 15, Caribou (1-3, 0.5556). Mt. Desert Island (3-0, 3.7963) and Winslow (3-0, 3.7963) are tied for first place.
Eastern Class D — 1, Washburn (4-0, 5.6463 points); 3, Central Aroostook (3-1, 3.1772); 4, Limestone-MSSM (1-4, 2.3148); 6, Easton (3-1, 1.8827); 8, Fort Fairfield (2-1, 1.5886); and 15, Ashland (1-2, 0.5556).
The following is a recap of games played through Monday, Dec. 20.
Madawaska 46, Limestone-MSSM 36 — At Madawaska Monday, a fourth-quarter rally lifted Madawaska past the visiting Eagles. Erin Dugal had 12 points to key Madawaska.
Amanda Allen led Limestone-MSSM with 12 points, while Ashlynn Kelly added six; Stephanie Leighton, five; Melissa Cantafino and Savanna Grah, four each; Chelsea Leighton, three; and Jordyn Hopkins, two.
Old Town 42, Caribou 39 — At Caribou Saturday, the Vikings mounted a third-quarter rally to go ahead of visiting Old Town, but were unable to hang on for the win. Old Town outscored Caribou 16-7 in the final period. Caribou trailed 13-8 in the first quarter, but led 19-18 at the break. The Vikings pushed their lead to 32-26 after three stanzas.
Jenna Selander tallied 15 points for the Vikings, followed by Alexa Massey with 14; Dayna Michaud and Katelyn Tardie, four each; and Jamie Martin, two.
For Old Town, Ashley England scored 12 points, while Ashley Abbott added 11.
Washburn 74, Van Buren 39 — At Van Buren Friday, a 24-point effort by senior Rebecca Campbell lifted Washburn to the lop-sided victory. Washburn led 21-16, 51-27 and 59-31 at the quarter breaks. Other Washburn scorers were Carmen Bragg, 13; Maegan Fitzpatrick, nine; Sarah Sjoberg, eight; Nicole Olson, seven; Meghan Saucier, six; Olivia Doody and Carsyn Koch, two each; and Rayah Saucier, one.
For Van Buren, freshman sensation Parise Rossingol netted 23 in the loss.
Mattanawcook Academy 53, Caribou 42 — At Lincoln Dec. 16, the Vikings led 13-11 in the first quarter, but trailed 29-21 by the break and 41-36 after three stanzas. Michaud and Selander each had 14 points to pace Caribou. Alexa Massey added eight; Rebecca McDougal, four; and Danielle Violette, two.
For the Lynx, Taylor Hawkins scored 18 points.
Hodgdon 45, Limestone-MSSM 26 — At Limestone Dec. 16, the Eagles had trouble with Hodgdon’s press, resulting in the lopsided loss. Stephanie Leighton led Limestone-MSSM with 12 points, followed by Amanda Allen with six; Gray, three; Kelly, two; and Danielle Pelkey, Chelsea Leighton and Hopkins, each with one.
For Hodgdon, Jennah Steamer led the way with 15 points.
Washburn 48, Southern Aroostook 42 — At Washburn Dec. 16, the Beavers jumped to the early lead and held off a late Southern Aroostook rally for the six-point win. Washburn led 15-6, 29-15 and 34-31 at the quarter breaks.
Olson led the Beavers with 14 points, followed by Campbell with 11; Sjoberg, six; Doody, five; and Bragg, four. For Southern Aroostook, Rockwell netted 16 points, while Altvater had 14 points and Shelby Hartin, 10.
Fort Fairfield 63, Van Buren 55 (OT) — At Van Buren Dec. 15, the Tigers received a 19-point effort from Amanda Hotham to lead Fort Fairfield to victory. Danielle Tracy added six of her 11 points in the extra period for the Tigers. Fort Fairfield scored 10 unanswered points in overtime.
Other Tiger scorers were Brooke Beaulieu, 15; Sydney Churchill and Rebekah Pelkey, five each; and Logan Bubar and Emily Blaisdell, four each.
For Van Buren, Rossignol had 27 points in the loss, while Ashlie Wilson added 18.
Caribou 49, Fort Kent 31 — At Fort Kent Dec. 14, the Vikings notched their first win of the season as Selander poured in a season-high 19 points, while Michaud added 13; Massey, seven; and McDougal, six. Sam Carapellucci paced Fort Kent with 10 points.
The Vikings led 8-6, 23-19 and 37-23 at the quarter breaks.
“Defense was the key in this one, especially holding them to four points in the third quarter, was huge,” said Caribou coach Ryan Deprey. “Coming out after halftime and building a big lead was exactly what we needed.”
Limestone-MSSM 30, Easton 23 — At Limestone, Dec. 14, the Eagles notched their first win of the season, while handing Easton its first loss. Allen and S. Leighton combined for seven of nine foul shots late in the contest as the Eagles slowly pulled away. Hopkins led the Eagles with 10 points, followed by S. Leighton with six; Gray, four; Allen and Pelkey, three each; and Kelley and C. Leighton, two each.
For Easton, Babineau had eight; Trask, six; Halvorson, five; and Hammond and Desmond, two each.
“Give credit to the Limestone girls for showing up to play basketball for 32 minutes,” coach Tomlinson said. “We couldn’t handle their full-court pressure because we panicked, which caused us to turn the ball over way too many times.”
Tomlinson added the Bears allowed Limestone-MSSM to get to the foul line too often and the Bears did not take advantage of their own free throw chances.
“We had a lot of mental mistakes in the game with missed layups and foul shots,” she said. “Their [Limestone-MSSM’s] patience on offense is the patience I would like to see with my team.”
