Girls basketball season opens with a flurry

The high school basketball season opened up last Friday and several teams started their trek toward the Bangor Auditorium.
On Monday in Dyer Brook, the Southern Aroostook Lady Warriors were outplayed by visiting Central Aroostook, 49-29.     After taking an opening lead of 19-1, the Lady Panthers never looked back. Vicki McIntyre led her team with a game-high 20 points, while Rachael Grew and Sarah Grass each scored 11 points for the Lady Panthers.
For Southern Aroostook, Olivia Raymond had nine points, while Sable Altvater and Kaitlyn Sommers both tossed in six points.
“Our shots just weren’t falling in [the first half],” said SACS coach Harris Tucker. “We had a hard time handling the ball with no point guard.”
The Lady Warriors’ point guard Desirae Dubois suffered an elbow injury and is sidelined, along with Ria Kinney, who hurt her knee.
Raymond and Jessica Tucker shared the ball-handling duties.
“In the last quarter, we pressed a little and it worked good,” Tucker said. “We were able to transition the ball underneath and open up our post players.”
Last Saturday in Woodland, the Lady Warriors were overpowered 52-36 by the Dragons.
Araceli Garcia had 14 points, while Taylor Cochran added 13 points and six assists and Ebonica Newman hauled down seven rebounds.
For the Lady Warriors, Altvater knocked down a dozen points, while Kristen Tarr and Mataya Hartin each dropped in eight.
“We are a working team,” said Tucker. “We will go game by game and try to strengthen our weaknesses and become more competitive.”
The East Grand Lady Vikings opened their season with two home losses to Ashland, 43-36, and Easton, 43-18.
At home Monday, the Lady Vikings held a four-point lead at the end of third, 28-24, before being outscored 19-8 in the final quarter.
Kayla Cote paced 1-0 Ashland with 15 points and Britney Harris added nine. For East Grand, Shaunna Beaudoin hit for 13 points, while Shelby Lindsey tossed in nine more.
In Danforth last Friday, Easton toppled East Grand behind Carla Halverson’s 16 points.
Beaudoin scored eight points for East Grand in their opening loss.
The Fort Fairfield Lady Tigers tripped up Katahdin, 71-35 in last Friday’s game in Stacyville.
Amanda Hotham led her Tigers with 15 points, while Danielle Tracy added 12 more and Sydney Churchill had 10 more.
For Katahdin, Megan Merry had a game-high 16 points.
On Monday, the Hodgdon Lady Hawks opened their season with a 61-39 victory over visiting 0-2 Katahdin.
Hodgdon used a well balanced scoring attack led by Mariah Wiley’s 14 points; Lacey McQuarrie tossed in 12 and Haley Gardiner netted eight points and hauled down 12 boards.
For Katahdin, Merry knocked down a game-high 23 points.