Area girls hope to take first step toward tourney

By Gloria Austin
Staff Writer
    The Houlton, Hodgdon and Southern Aroostook girls needed to scrape by the playoffs before reaching the Eastern Maine Tournament at the Bangor Auditorium.
    The preliminary games were scheduled to be played yesterday.
No. 8 Houlton Lady Shires vs. No. 9 Dexter (10-8)
    The Houlton Lady Shires finished their season at 12-6 and were scheduled to host Dexter last night at Alumni Gymnasium.
    Houlton and Dexter have met each other before in Bangor, with Dexter having the size advantage with the Ames sisters, Ashley and Mallory. The Lady Shires have only one common opponent with Dexter.
    “They play a gritty man defense with lots of ball pressure and we’ll have to take care of the ball and limit turnovers,” said Houlton coach Shawn Graham. “They are a lot like us in terms of size, so we may be able to go inside a little more than we have during the regular season.”
    The Houlton girls lost their final game of the year to visiting Mattanawcook Academy, 41-38.
    “I thought the Lincoln game was a very good test for us coming into the playoffs,” said Graham. “They are big, strong, and athletic.”
    Mattanawcook Academy, ranked fifth, will meet No. 4 Stearns in the first round of the Eastern Maine Tournament. The Lynx also defeated No. 1 Orono twice on the season.
    In last Friday’s game, Houlton had a chance to win the game, as they rallied back from a 36-29 deficit midway through the final period.
    “We had a couple of stretches where the rotation wasn’t quite the way it should have been and got beat on the low block,” said Graham. “But for the most part, I thought the girls executed our game plan very well, which was to make their guards beat us from the perimeter while containing the two big girls (Blood and Hawkins).”
    “We did a great job on Blood (two points), but Hawkins had a few more than we would have liked,” said Graham. Hawkins finished with 11 of her 18 points in the second half.
    Amanda Fogarty led the Houlton girls with 21 points, 16 in the second half and Sam Keegan posted 10 more.
    But, the regular season is now behind and the Lady Shires look to a brand new season starting with the playoffs.
    “Hopefully, the outcome will be a little better,” said Graham. “I expect a very competitive game with the team that can execute a little better on offense to come out with a win.”
No. 7 Hodgdon Lady Hawks vs. No. 10 Limestone/MSSM (9-9)
    The Hodgdon girls were to host a familiar opponent in Limestone/MSSM, as each team won on the opponent’s home court. The Lady Hawks toppled Limestone/MSSM, 52-48, in Limestone on Jan. 24, while on Dec. 15 in Hodgdon, Limestone/MSSM took a 42-39 win.
    “We need to come out with intensity right at the get-go with no fear,” said Hodgdon coach Vaughn Farrar. “That will get us going defensively. We need to shut down the [Stephanie] Leighton girl and [Amanda] Allen girl. If we do that, we’ll be O.K.”
No. 15 SACS Lady Warriors
 vs. No. 2 Fort Fairfield (14-4)
    The purple and white of Southern Aroostook needed to pull off an upset over host Fort Fairfield yesterday to reach Bangor.
    Both clubs play common opponents, but never met on the regular season, but they have squared off on the Auditorium floor, with Fort Fairfield holding a 3-0 record.
    “They have knocked us out every year,” said SACS coach Harris Tucker. “This is the fourth time around. Hopefully, we can upset Fort Fairfield instead of them beating us all the time.”
    Tucker’s defense has focused on shutting down Fort Fairfield senior Amanda Hotham and containing Sydney Churchill on the perimeter.
    “We’ve been working on our man-to man defense to try to contain their offense,” said Tucker. “I told my girls to focus hard on the defense and our offense will come as we go. We have switched a few things around offensively and defensively and in the end, hopefully those changes we made will help us get a victory.”