The Machias High School girls basketball team had an interesting week capped off by a challenging weekend.
The Bulldogs not only played five games in five days, but three of them came within a period of 21 hours Friday and Saturday.
They traveled 44.2 miles one way to Eastport to play Shead High School on Friday night.
They got home at 9:30 p.m., and at 7 a.m. Saturday, they climbed into the bus for an 85.3-mile trip to Bangor to play Bangor Christian.
After that game, they drove 82.9 miles from Bangor to Jonesport to play a late-afternoon game against Jonesport-Beals.
“As soon as we got to Jonesport, we had a five-minute stretch, and then they started the 15-minute pregame warmup,” Machias coach Brad Prout said.
It also was the second game of the day for Jonesport-Beals, which hosted Deer Isle-Stonington earlier in the day.
On Friday night, Shead beat Machias 41-27, two days after the Bulldogs had beaten the Tigers 53-50 in Machias.
But Machias rebounded from Friday’s loss to beat Bangor Christian 63-42 and Jonesport-Beals 50-35 to conclude a 4-1 week.
The week had begun Tuesday with a 92.6-mile trip to Danforth, where the Bulldogs beat East Grand 43-34. Snowy roads added an extra half-hour to the trip, making it a 2½-hour affair. They played their lone home game of the week against Shead the next night.
Thursday was a snow day.
“It was a busy week,” junior guard and tri-captain Katie Whitney acknowledged. “The three games (Friday through Saturday) was really tough. It was exhausting. But we pulled through. It was a real good team effort. The subs played a lot, and that helped. They did a great job.”
Fatigue played a factor for the Machias squad.
“It was very tiring, to say the least — especially after we lost on Friday night. We were all tired, and we were down,” junior center and tri-captain Tate Dolley said.
“The toughest part was trying to stay energized for the games because we had so many in a row,” said junior guard and tri-captain Makayla Prout, who is the daughter of the coach.
“It was real hectic, but it was worth it. Our team is amazing,” she added.
Brad Prout advised them to get plenty of rest and drink a lot of fluids.
“The girls did a great job. We were a little sluggish at Shead on Friday night. We didn’t play that well. But the girls came out with a lot of energy on Saturday,” Brad Prout said.
Makayla Prout said team members slept on the way to Bangor, then on the trip to Jonesport.
Brad Prout said one of the things that helped his team have a productive week, despite the gruelling schedule, was the fact “we play eight games on a weekend during the summer.
“This was a little easier,” he said.
Machias High School principal Brian Leavitt made the experience more tolerable, according to Prout and his players.
“He provided us with water, Gatorade, lunches and snacks,” Whitney said.
“He even brought us breakfast sandwiches before we left for Bangor,” Makayla Prout said.
Brad Prout used a lot of players against Bangor Christian and Jonesport-Beals.
“We were fortunate enough to jump out ahead quick in the first quarter against Jonesport-Beals so we could play our subs to finish out the game,” Brad Prout said. “The Bangor Christian game was a little tighter at the half than I had wanted it to be, but we opened things up in the second half.”
Makayla Prout said the fact the reserves received a lot of playing time was valuable for the future.
“They need to get more experience because when we’re gone, they’re going to have to step up,” Makayla Prout said.
Coach Prout and his players sewed up the No. 5 spot for the Eastern Maine Class D tournament, courtesy of a 13-5 record. They were scheduled to host 7-10 Woodland, the 12th seed, in a preliminary game Tuesday night.
They did admit they were fortunate Bangor Christian and Jonesport-Beals were not among the division’s elite teams, as they finished the season 1-17 and 3-15, respectively.
But the girls said the weeklong ordeal served as a useful bonding tool.
“We have always spent a lot of time together, but to be together as much as we were last week brought us together more,” Dolley said.
“We definitely have good team chemistry now,” Makayla Prout said.