By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
It’s on to the final home stretch for girls basketball teams as the regular season winds to a close. The final countable day for regular-season games is Friday, Feb. 11 with tournament action beginning Tuesday, Feb. 15, with preliminary games.
Contributed photo/jMavor Photography
Jamie Martin gets a pass off to a teammate during Saturday’s home game against Ellsworth. Caribou won the game, 68-43.
Quarterfinal games for Class B begin Friday, Feb. 18, while Class D games follow on Saturday, Feb. 19 and all day Monday, Feb. 21
It was a day for upsets Monday as two of the top three squads in Class D suffered defeats. Washburn, the top-ranked squad in Eastern Class D, lost a one-point decision to Southern Aroostook, while No. 3 Fort Fairfield had an uncharacteristic lopsided loss to Madawaska. The standings for Eastern Class D became far more interesting following those losses, as only 17 points separates the top four seeds as of Tuesday morning.
In the Maine Principals’ Association Heal Points standings for Eastern Class D, Washburn (14-2, 68.2861) remains the No. 1 seed despite the loss to SACS (12-2, 51.2418). The Warriors are currently the No. 4 seed. Central Aroostook (12-3, 61.8464) is second in the region, while Fort Fairfield (13-2, 52.8464) is third. Easton (6-8, 11.4488) is currently 11th, while Limestone-MSSM (2-12,7.7160) is 12th and Ashland (4-10, 4.2883) is 14th. The Bears, Eagles and Hornets are likely out of the playoff picture. Easton has the best shot of sneaking back into the fold, especially if the Bears could pull off a victory over Central Aroostook on Saturday.
In Eastern Class B, Caribou (7-8, 48.9198) is eighth and would host a preliminary playoff against the No. 9 seed, currently Winslow (10-4, 48.6420).
The following is a recap of games played through Monday.
Southern Aroostook 50, Washburn 49 — At Dyer Brook Monday, the Beavers suffered a heart-breaking one-point loss to Southern Aroostook. SACS’ Jasmine Rockwell hit a jump shot with six seconds to play, giving the Warriors the one-point edge. Sable Altvater led SACS with 14, while Shelby Hartin added 13.
Washburn’s Rebecca Campbell led all performers with 21 points, while Nicole Olson added 10. The two teams were tied 11-11 in the first quarter and 21-21 at the half before Washburn took a 36-31 lead after three periods.
Madawaska 58, Fort Fairfield 43 — At Fort Fairfield Monday, the Tigers suffered just their second loss on the year as Fort fell to Class C Madawaska. Amanda Hotham led the Tigers with 17 points, while Brooke Beaulieu added nine.
Erin Dugal paced the Owls with 21 points. Madawaska led 10-9, 25-17 and 39-35 at the quarter breaks.
Caribou 47, Mattanawcook Academy 34 — At Caribou Monday, the Vikings notched their seventh win on the season powered by an 18-point effort from senior Jenna Selander. Alexa Massey added 11 and Dayna Michaud chipped in 10 for Caribou.
Abby Paul led the Lynx with 10 points. Caribou trailed 9-6 in the first quarter, but took a 17-15 lead into the halftime break and was up 26-22 after three stanzas.
Caribou 68, Ellsworth 43 — At Caribou Saturday, senior Selander scored a season-high 29 points to lead Caribou past Ellsworth. Michaud and Massey scored nine points each for Caribou. Sam McGuire led Ellsworth with nine points.
Caribou led 18-12, 33-28 and 52-35 at the quarter breaks.
Washburn 59, Limestone-MSSM 28 — At Limestone Friday, Washburn’s Rebecca Campbell had 21 points to lead the Beavers. Carmen Bragg added 10. Stephanie Leighton paced Limestone-MSSM with seven points.
Washburn led 15-1, 29-9 and 43-21 at the quarter breaks.
Fort Fairfield 72, Wisdom 21 — At Fort Fairfield Friday, the Tigers used a total team effort to beat Wisdom as 14 of the 15 Tigers on the roster scored. Hotham led the way with nine points.
Washburn 51, Easton 37 — At Easton Wednesday, Rebecca Campbell led all players with 22 points as she helped power Washburn to its ninth straight victory. Carmen Bragg added 12 points and Meaghan Saucier 10 for the Beavers. Mindy Desmond led Easton with 11 points.
Washburn led 9-6, 23-14, and 33-25 at the quarter breaks.
Southern Aroostook 54, Limestone-MSSM 38 — At Dyer Brook Wednesday, Shelby Hartin netted 18 points to lead Southern Aroostook to victory past Limestone-Maine School of Science and Mathematics. Jasmine Rockwell added 12 points for the Warriors. Stephanie Leighton scored a game-high 25 points to lead the Eagles.
Southern Aroostook led 15-8, 24-15 and 34-27 at the quarter breaks.
Fort Fairfield 48, Central Aroostook 47 — At Fort Fairfield Wednesday, Amanda Hotham hit two free throws with 40 seconds remaining to give Fort Fairfield the lead as the Tigers held off Central Aroostook. Hotham scored 17 points for Fort Fairfield and Brooke Beaulieu chipped in 15 points.
McIntyre scored a game-high 21 points for the Panthers.
Fort Fairfield led 17-14, 30-25 and 41-32 at the quarter breaks. The Panthers outscored Fort Fairfield 15-7 in the final quarter, but it was not enough for the win.
