It’s tourney time: Houlton, SACS girls and Katahdin boys head straight to Bangor; Warriors in playoffs

It’s that time of year again when Aroostook County fans will be making their annual pilgrimage to the Bangor Auditorium to root on their favorite teams.
A sea of fans will flock to the Auditorium wearing their school colors, pins or face paint with signs galore hanging from the banisters sporting each school’s team spirit.
    The Class B-C-D Eastern Maine Tournament begins Friday, Feb. 18 and ends with the final game on Saturday, Feb. 26. (More in the Sports Section’s Special Winter Pages).
This year, the field of teams is limited to four from the immediate area. The Houlton and Southern Aroostook girls and Katahdin boys will bypass the preliminaries by earning a top spot in the Heal Point standings. The Southern Aroostook boys will travel for a playoff game, as they were able to gain enough points to sneak into the No. 10 spot in Class D.
The Houlton Lady Shires are ranked third in the Class C Heal Point standings, while the Southern Aroostook Lady Warriors are number four in Class D and the Katahdin Cougars will head into the tournament as the number-six seed in Class D boys.
The Southern Aroostook Warriors will travel to Fort Fairfield tonight to take on the Tigers in a 7 p.m. contest, which can also be heard on WHOU-FM 100.1 and whoufm.com.
Last year, the two teams met in the Class D quarterfinals in Bangor.
“There is a mutual respect between the schools,” said Southern Aroostook coach Vaughn Sleeper. “Both teams will be leaving it all on the floor for sure.”
Sleeper said his Warriors will need to contain the Tigers’ guards and manage their big men underneath.
“Noyes is a talented player and a true leader who any coach would love to have on his team,” Sleeper said. “We must also control Fort’s big men in Caldwell and Lewis and do a good job closing out on Jahleel Williams, who is a good perimeter player.”
The Warriors and Tigers are very similar to each other as far as bench depth.
“Bottom line, the team who plays the best defense, rebounds and takes care of the ball will be going to Bangor,” Sleeper said. “This game very easily could be decided late in the fourth quarter. So, we will be working on clock management and foul shooting during our practices leading up to the contest.”
The winner of the Southern Aroostook-Fort Fairfield game will face No. 2 Jonesport-Beals in the Class D quarterfinals on Monday at 11:05 a.m. at the Bangor Auditorium.
The Houlton Lady Shires, who are ranked No. 3 in Class C, will take on a familiar opponent, as they square off against Washington Academy for the second straight year in the Class C quarterfinals at the Bangor Auditorium on Tuesday at 9:35 a.m.
The Lady Shires are relatively young and don’t have a great deal of postseason experienced players, but they ultimately won 12 games on the season, avoiding a preliminary game in a tough Class C bracket.
“I felt we had a very successful regular season as a whole,” coach Shawn Graham said. “The girls have greatly exceeded my expectations as a coach.”
Last year, the Lady Shires were defeated 45-38 by Washington Academy in the quarterfinals.
“We are excited about being [in Bangor], but at the same time, we are approaching the tournament with an optimistic mindset,” said Graham. “We got knocked off by this very same opponent a year ago and I believe this will serve as motivation for our team.”
Graham added that Washington Academy has been to the Eastern Maine finals two years in a row, coming up short both years.
“They are 14-4 and have won 13 of their last 14,” he said.
With that being said, the Lady Shires have their work cut out for them in the first round of tourney action.
“I think we need to get off to a good start, play smart basketball, and attack the rim a little more,” Graham said. “The last three games of the regular season, we’ve been outscored by our opponents 43-13 in the first quarter alone. Offensively, we have to get more girls involved as we’ve really struggled putting points on the board lately.”
The Southern Aroostook Lady Warriors lost their first two games of the season (No. 2 Central Aroostook and No. 1 Washburn) and closed out the regular season with 15 straight wins. They are poised to play Fort Fairfield on Monday, Feb. 21 at 2:05 p.m. at the Bangor Auditorium.
“I felt it took us awhile to build our team chemistry and gel,” said Southern Aroostook coach Cliff Urquhart. “We had graduated four girls who had either started or seen the majority of the minutes last season, so we had a whole new ‘team’ out there who had never really played together before.”
Southern Aroostook is traditionally known as a full-court pressing and fast-breaking team. But, Urquhart implemented changes within the Lady Warriors’ offensive and defensive sets.
“Now, we had to learn how to play half-court offense, limit possessions and rely more on half-court defense,” he said. “We learned to get stops instead of gambling, and to get turnovers on steals. None of the girls on the team were really accustomed to playing that style of basketball. Once we settled in, we were fine.”
The two teams met last year in the Class D semifinals, with Fort Fairfield taking a 51-42 victory.
“I think most anyone would tell you that our size is our biggest advantage heading to Bangor,” Urquhart said. “But, Fort Fairfield is the one team in the tournament who matches up size-wise with our front-court. It’s an interesting matchup.”
Leading the Lady Tigers in their defense of their first-ever state Class D title are Amanda Hotham and Brooke Beaulieu.
“In my opinion, until someone can knock them off, they are the team to beat regardless of seeding,” Urquhart said. “We know we may be wearing the white uniforms, but are not by any means tricked into thinking we are the favorite to win. They have knocked us out of the semifinals the last two seasons.”
The Lady Warriors want to keep Fort Fairfield off the offensive glass and limit Hotham’s time at the free throw line.
“We also want to be prepared for a variety of defenses that might be thrown at us,” said Urquhart.
The Lady Warriors set the goal at the beginning of the season to simply make it to the tournament, said Urquhart.
“We have no outlandish expectations of going down there and winning a gold ball,” he added. “We just want to take it one game at a time — stay focused, practice and play hard — and see what we can do and enjoy the ride.”
The Katahdin Cougars finished their season with a 12-6 record and a sixth-place seed in the Class D tournament where they will meet No. 3 Washburn on Monday, Feb. 21 at 9:35 a.m. for their quarterfinal game in Bangor.
“Anything can happen now,” said Katahdin coach Shawn Craig. “I think if we are healthy, it will be a good game.”
Craig believes this is the first time in five or six years that Katahdin has bypassed a prelim game to go straight into the tournament.
“The kids are excited and very positive,” he said. “I’m very proud of the boys and the way they have played together and I am very happy with the support of parents and fans.”
The Cougars are playing a talented Washburn club their first round.
“They play a lot like Central, up and down the floor,” said Craig. “They play good defense and they crash the boards.”
The Cougars, according to Craig, will have to keep an eye on Mitch Worcester and Jordan McLaughlin
“The Worcester kid is a great shooter, passer and ball handler, said Craig. “But, the McLaughlin kid might be the ace in the deck. He can shoot as good as anyone we have played against so he will have to be guarded closely.”
Craig doesn’t discount the rest of the Washburn players either.
“They are all good,” he said. “Rebounding and shooting.”
The Cougars will look to control the tempo of the game, control the boards and take care of Washburn’s fast break.
“This is not going to be an easy task,” said Craig. “I am hoping we can play like we are capable of and make this a great first-round game.”