 |
| Contributed photo/Stacey Baker Mitchell Worcester, a senior on the Washburn Beavers, was honored Saturday for becoming the school’s all-time leading scorer. With Worcester are his coach, Randy Norsworthy, left, and his parents, Larry and Kim Worcester. |
By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
The defending Class D state champion Washburn girls and new coach Diana Trams will have to wait until tonight to kick off their regular season. That’s because Monday’s scheduled home opener against Fort Fairfield was postponed due to the snowstorm. The Beavers will host Southern Aroostook at 6:30 p.m.
The Fort Fairfield girls collected a 51-31 win over Katahdin Saturday behind 17 points from senior Sydney Churchill. Whitney McNamee added 10 points and seven other Fort players reached the scoring column.
Megan Merry had 12 points for the Cougars.
The Washburn boys saw senior Mitchell Worcester establish a new career scoring record at the school. Worcester passed Jason Thompson, who had logged 1,596 points, for the top spot on the list and his 33 points helped the Beavers defeat Ashland Saturday, 74-31.
Worcester also had eight rebounds and six assists in the victory.
“In my opinion and many other opposing coaches as well, he is the toughest player to defend in Eastern Maine,” said his coach, Randy Norsworthy. “His 6-3 height and quickness, with the ability to drain the three-ball, makes him really tough to guard.”
As for the game, Norsworthy was impressed with how his young team, with a starting lineup including a freshman, two sophomores and two seniors, competed in its first game.
“I think that at times we pushed the ball up the court well and defended quite well,” he said. “We need to be much better in the rebounding area and more consistent with our defensive pressure, but being young, we will have some adjusting to do getting used to the different players on the court.”
Mark Chasse’s eight points were tops for the Hornets. Cody Blair and Tyler Chasse added seven apiece.
The Fort Fairfield boys got past Limestone-MSSM Friday in the mutual opener, 76-61. Coach Todd Alley said teamwork, scoring balance and determination by his squad keyed the victory.
“We got meaningful contributions from nine players and hustled for four quarters,” he said. “We will only be as successful as our teamwork carries us.
“We had 18 offensive rebounds, several key steals for layups and hustled back in transition to make them take tough shots,” Alley added.
Andrew Lewis scored 17 points and added 12 rebounds and six assists, while Logan Craig had 15 points and Johnny Theriault tossed in 14. Andrew Tuck and Hunter Beaulieu added 12 and 10, respectively. Austin Bernier dished out a team-high six assists.
Nate Tucker scored 20 points and Tristan Kirk had 16 for the Eagles. Chris Bernier was also in double figures with 12 points and he also had eight rebounds. Brandon Thompson was the team’s rebounding leader with nine.
“It was huge to win the opener from a confidence standpoint,” Alley added.
The Limestone-MSSM girls faced one of the state’s top individual players in Parise Rossignol and her Van Buren Crusaders Friday.
“Parise worked [hard] and shot very well and Van Buren’s support kids hit shots in the second half,” said Eagle coach Ryan O’Neal.
Rossignol had 30 points and hauled in 14 rebounds to lead the way to a 56-36 win.
Limestone-MSSM shot 19 percent from the field in the game. Daniele Pelkey had 10 points and Melissa Cantafio added eight points and a team-best 10 rebounds. Alexis Bell totaled nine points.
“We got the looks we wanted, we just didn’t convert,” O’Neal said. “Hopefully that’s the worst we’ll shoot all year.”
