Eastern Maine standouts Kyle Bouchard, Nick Mayo and Hannah Graham are among six finalists for the state’s 2015 Mr. and Miss Maine Basketball awards announced Wednesday morning.
The award, the state’s highest individual high school basketball honor, recognizes senior players’ performances on the court as well as their contributions to their team and basketball in Maine.
The winners will be announced during the annual Maine McDonald’s High School Senior All-Star Awards Banquet on Friday, March 13, at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
Bouchard, a 6-foot-5-inch forward from Houlton, and Mayo, a 6-8 forward from Messalonskee of Oakland, are joined as Mr. Basketball finalists by 6-foot-5 forward Jack Simonds of Falmouth.
Named Miss Basketball finalists along with Graham, a 5-10 guard from Presque Isle, are Ashley Storey, a 6-2 center from Greely of Cumberland Center, and Victoria Lux, a 6-1 forward from Thornton Academy of Saco.
Graham and Storey will square off for the Class B state championship at 7 p.m. Friday when Presque Isle faces Greely at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland. Lux also will vie for a gold ball this weekend when Thornton Academy faces Lawrence of Fairfield for the Class A girls crown in a 3:05 p.m. start Saturday from the Augusta Civic Center.
All six finalists plan to continue their basketball careers in college. Mayo and Storey will play at the Division I level, Mayo at Eastern Kentucky and Storey at New Hampshire, while Bouchard and Lux are set to play at Division II Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Graham and Simonds will compete on the Division III level at Bowdoin College in Brunswick.
The finalists were selected from fields of 10 boys and girls semifinalists.
Other Mr. Basketball semifinalists were Eric Hoogterp of Old Town, Lew Jensen of Edward Little of Auburn, Kyle Johnson of Calais, Ben Malloy of Bonny Eagle of Standish, Justin Martin of Winslow, Ian Mileikis of Edward Little and Liam Stokes of Cony of Augusta.
Also named Miss Basketball semifinalists were Ashley Briggs of Scarborough, Mary Butler of Bangor, Kaitlyn McCrum of Thornton Academy, Maddy McVicar of Calais, Cordelia Stewart of Bangor, Maria Valente of Gray-New Gloucester and Mackenzie Worcester of Washburn.
Foul shooting finalists named
Eight regional free-throw shooting qualifiers from high schools around Maine will compete in the state championship competition on Saturday, March 14, at Husson University in Bangor as part of the Maine McDonald’s High School Senior All-Star Basketball Games weekend.
Girls finalists are Mackenzie Worcester of Washburn (Northern Region), Lauren Raye of Washington Academy of East Machias (Eastern Region), Hannah Marks of Medomak Valley of Waldoboro (Central Region) and Chloe Smedley of York (Southern Region).
Boys finalists are Robbie Watson of Fort Fairfield (Northern), Logan Wood of Machias (Eastern), Derek LeBlanc of Madison (Central) and Dan O’Brion of Cheverus of Portland (Southern).
The competition will run from 8:30 to 9 a.m. at Newman Gymnasium on the Husson campus, followed by four Maine McDonald’s East-West Senior All-Star games.
