Houlton teams split

The Houlton Lady Shires showed their mettle last Saturday, as they outlasted host Schenck, 39-37, in East Millinocket.
Amanda Fogarty paced Houlton with 16 points, while Tori Hanson added 12.
“We got off to a slow start both offensively and defensively,” said Houlton coach Shawn Graham. “We got outscored 14-3 in the first quarter alone. I felt we had good looks on offense, but we were a bit tight and needed to relax and settle in.”
    The Lady Shires regained control over the second and third periods, as they went on a 27-12 run after a defensive changeup.
“Defensively, Schenck was a hard matchup for us in man defense,” Graham explained. “We switched to a half-court trap.”
But, Houlton’s lead would be tentative as Schenck also made defensive changes in the final quarter.
“We played evenly,” said Graham of the fourth period. “But, we missed a few free throws when we had a chance to put the game away.”
Though the Lady Shires didn’t play their best ball, they did manage a win in East Millinocket.
“Schenck isn’t an easy place to play by no means,” Graham said. “Any time you don’t play your best basketball and still come out of their gym with a win is really a bonus. I thought the girls worked extremely hard and deserve a lot of credit for their effort.”
Last Tuesday, Presque Isle came to Houlton and took home a 61-32 victory.
The undefeated Lady Wildcats posted an 18-10 lead after one and raced away in the second, 23-4, to take a halftime lead of 41-14 en route to the win.
Fogarty keyed Houlton with 12 points and Marina Cameron added seven.
On Thursday, the Houlton Shiretowners fell behind visiting Stearns and the Minutemen were able to grab a 57-52 win.
“We got into early foul trouble and that hurt us,” said Houlton coach Rob Moran. “It hurt our aggressiveness, as we allowed way too much dribble penetration and we got thumped on the glass. We had very few second shots.”
Put all those things together with an awful shooting night for the Shires and the end result is not a win.
Stearns led 9-7 to start the game and built a 20-17 advantage at halftime. The Minutemen extended their lead to eight points at the end of third, 34-26, and held Houlton off in the fourth quarter.
Though the Shiretowners had open looks at the basket, they just couldn’t get the shots to fall.
“We have been shooting the ball very well,” said Moran. “We were just cold. We beat them fairly easy down there and I just think we looked past them.”
Kyle Bouchard hit four 3-pointers and scored a team-high 24 points, playing with four fouls. Dan Howe finished with nine and Nick Guiod added eight.
Stearns’ Riley Whitney was game-high scorer with 25 points.
“This was a big loss for us,” said Moran. “We had the chance to beat them twice, now the teams that we are competing with got points off their win. We had been playing well and we need to be ready to play each time out.”
Last Tuesday in Houlton, the Shiretowners overtook visiting Fort Kent, 56-43.
“It was a nice win for us,” said Moran. “We had pretty good team play and we made some foul shots at the end of the game.”
Bouchard led the Houlton Shiretowners to the victory, scoring eight fourth-quarter points, completing a rare triple-double — 15 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists — while Guiod went 6-for-6 from the free throw line to seal the win.
Guiod scored 13 points (7-for-7 free throw game effort) and Dan Swallow recorded a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
The Shiretowners built a 23-9 halftime cushion, but Fort Kent’s perimeter shooting — five 3-pointers — cut into the lead after the third, 38-27.
“I thought we defended pretty well for the most part, although, we lost the shooter a few times,” Moran said. “We shot the ball fairly well and moved the ball well. It was a point-worthy win. Fort Kent will win some more games.”
Tonight, the Shires travel to East Millinocket to take on a physical Schenck Wolverines team at 7 p.m. Saturday, the Houlton boys go to Lee Academy and next Tuesday, Jan. 31, they host Mattanawcook Academy, which is the top-ranked team in Class C and only beat the Shires by a point in Lincoln.
“We have a lot of games we can win, but we are going to have to play better,” said Moran. “We need to execute and play tough on defense. We need to do the little things, play smart and play team basketball.”