The Bangor High School Rams and Hampden Academy Broncos were spectators last season at the Eastern Maine Class A girls basketball tournament at the Augusta Civic Center.
A year after winning its first Eastern Maine championship in 31 years, Bangor finished 10th in the Heal point standings, and Hampden finished last among the 13 teams in Eastern A.
The two programs have had two of the biggest turnarounds in girls basketball this season, and the archrivals will face off in the 8:30 p.m. Friday quarterfinal at the Augusta Civic Center.
Bangor, 17-1, is the top seed, and Hampden, 10-9, is the No. 8 seed.
Two Eastern Maine Class B and two Class D quarterfinals will be held Saturday at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, and the Class C quarterfinals will be held Tuesday.
“We’re excited to get started,” said first-year Bangor coach Joe Johnson, whose Rams have won 10 straight since suffering their only loss to Lawrence of Fairfield on Jan. 3 (59-53).
Bangor won the two regular season meetings, 46-27 and 54-35, against the youthful Broncos.
“They have gotten a lot better. They’re shooting the ball better,” Johnson said.
The Broncos have six freshmen and three sophomores.
“It should be a fun experience for the kids,” said Hampden coach Tim Scott. “They’ve improved. They’ve worked hard. They aren’t making the mistakes they made early in the season.”
Scott said his team is going to have to slow Bangor down and limit its second-chance opportunities by rebounding well.
That will be a tall order because Bangor features 6-footers Cordelia Stewart and the Butler sisters, Mary and Katie. Hampden doesn’t have a player over 5-foot-10.
The Brown University-bound Mary Butler has consistently scored in double figures and has expanded her game to include 3-point shooting. Stewart missed last season because of knee surgery and has been making up for lost time. Sophomore Katie Butler has improved noticeably, and the Rams have received solid guard play from Emily Gilmore and Sarah Bragg.
Bangor has limited opponents to 34.4 points per game.
Erin Murphy, Hampdens lone senior, has led the Broncos in scoring, and freshmen Brooklyn Scott, Tim Scott’s daughter, and Marissa Gilpin headline the youth movement.
Lawrence, 17-1, will be a serious contender behind dynamic 6-1 center Nia Irving, a BDN All-Maine second-team choice a year ago; Paige Belanger and shooting guard Dominique Lewis.
Defending champ Oxford Hills of South Paris, which is led by senior forward Mikayla Morin and has won 14 of its last 15, and Edward Little High of Auburn, featuring Tianna Harriman and Emily Jacques, are the other top threats.
In Class B, Presque Isle High School coach Jeff Hudson and his Wildcats have gone from the hunted to the hunters.
Mount Desert Island ended Presque Isle’s 64-game winning streak in the Eastern Maine title game last season and dealt the Wildcats their only two losses this season en route to an 18-0 record and the top seed.
“It’s MDI’s tournament to lose,” said Hudson. “They have the most talent, they’re experienced, they’re athletic, they can shoot and they’re quick. We hit 14 3-pointers in our first game with them, and they still won.
“But we’d like another crack at them,” he added.
MDI also has size as all of the Trojan starters are in the 5-7 to 5-10 range.
Junior guard Sierra Tapley is a scoring machine who can hit from anywhere, and junior forward Kelsey Shaw is a relentless rebounder and point-producer.
Sarah Phelps and Molly Carroll can get hot from the outside. Keely McConomy is strong underneath, and speedy Darcy Kanu gives the team a spark off the bench.
Presque Isle has been led by Hannah Graham, a BDN All-Maine second-teamer, and Krystal Kingsbury. Graham is a gifted 5-10 all-everything guard who can take the ball to the hole or bury a 3-pointer, and Kingsbury is the Wildcats’ go-to player in the paint.
Medomak Valley of Waldoboro would be the team most likely to interfere with an MDI-Presque Isle rematch thanks to dynamic senior guard Hannah Marks.
In Class C, it has been a trying year for Calais coach Dana Redding, whose Blue Devils not only graduated some key personnel off last year’s state championship team but had two starters suspended because of an altercation with each other during a game on Jan. 10. at Houlton.
“We’re real young and shorthanded. It’s going to be tough to advance,” said Redding, who praised his team for “coming together pretty well” after the incident.
“I’m glad we made the tournament. It’ll be a good experience for our young kids,” said Redding, whose Blue Devils are 13-5 and the fifth seed.
Redding feels No. 2 seed Houlton and No. 4 seed Dexter are the teams to beat and No. 8 Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln could be a sleeper.
“Houlton starts five real good players and have a couple of good ones coming off the bench. [Freshman Kolleen] Bouchard is for real,” he said. “Dexter plays hard and is always in your face, and Mattanawcook has won some big games.”
Calais does have one of the state’s premier guards in BDN All-Maine second teamer Maddy McVicar, who is averaging 23 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.
Houlton features talented guards Bouchard and Natalie Hill along with impressive forward Katie Condon.
Dexter is headlined by a seven-member senior class including Peyton Watson, Christine May and Michaela White.
Piscataquis Community High School of Guilford’s 14-4 Pirates feature 6-4 Delani Bennett and swift-footed guard Alex Speed, and Kelli Kennedy has led Narraguagus of Harrington to the top seed.
In Class D, defending four-time state champ Washburn, 102-5 over the last five seasons, has to be the favorite behind BDN All-Maine third-teamer Mackenzie Worcester, a do-everything point guard who can score from anywhere and also triggers the press.
Joan Overman is the defensive catalyst.
“They aren’t as good as last year and they aren’t as deep, but they’re still 18-0 and the team to beat,” said Fort Fairfield coach Larry Gardner, whose team lost three and five-point games to the Beavers.
The Beavers score a lot of easy points off turnovers created by the team’s press.
Limestone/Maine School of Science and Mathematics transfer Chelsey Pelkey paces a balanced Fort Fairfield attack along with Taylor Churchill and forwards Teresa Maynard, Kayla Giberson and Megan Jellison.
Machias, behind Tate Dolley and Katie Whitney, is another contender as is Shead of Eastport and Penobscot Valley.