Nia Irving has accomplished a lot on the basketball court in the past several years.
The Lawrence High School of Fairfield senior center/forward led her team to its first Class A state championship since 1994, she was Maine’s Gatorade Player of the Year last season as well as being chosen a Bangor Daily News All-Maine Schoolgirl first-teamer, and she realized her dream by signing a National Letter of Intent to attend Boston University.
Now Irving is looking forward to helping her Bulldogs defend their title, although the realignment to five classes in basketball, including the establishment of a Class AA, means their rivalry with Bangor won’t be renewed in the postseason. However, the teams will meet once during regular season on Jan. 30 in Fairfield.
Bangor is in AA North, and Lawrence is in A North.
Lawrence beat Bangor in a memorable Eastern Maine Class A final 46-42 a year ago after the teams split regular-season meetings.
Bangor was the only team to beat Lawrence, which finished 21-1. The Bulldogs topped Thornton Academy of Saco 50-43 in the state final.
Irving doesn’t have an opinion on the new alignment.
“I know we’re losing out on rivalries against Bangor and Oxford Hills, but I don’t care who we play. As long as I’m playing, I’m happy,” she said.
The Bulldogs lost some valuable players such as Paige Belanger, Abby Weigang and Jordyn Towers, but Irving, sharp-shooting guard Dominique Lewis and junior Morgan Boudreau supply coach John Donato with a quality trio to build around.
“We’ll find out what’s successful for us, and we’ll stick with it,” said Irving, whose Bulldogs open on Dec. 4 at Messalonskee of Oakland.
“I’m really excited for the season,” she said. “We’ve all improved a lot over the summer and fall. We’ve got some new moves. It’s going to be really interesting to watch us all play together again.”
Irving will begin the season with a clean bill of health unlike a year ago when she was coming off anterior-cruciate ligament (knee) surgery.
She improved over the course of the season and capped her campaign with a 27-point, seven- rebound performance against Thornton.
The 6-foot-1 Irving averaged 22.5 points, 14.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists and a blocked shot in 2014-15. And she has added another weapon to her already well-stocked arsenal.
She has expanded the range on her jump shot while playing for the Maine Maniacs AAU team during the offseason.
“I shot a lot of 3-pointers, and I’ve also worked on my one-on-one fast break moves,” said Irving.
She doesn’t feel there will be any additional pressure on her based on last year’s accomplishments.
“I don’t go out there looking to score 20 points. I just think about trying to help our team win,” she said.
She enjoyed the NLI signing ceremony at Lawrence High surrounded by her family and coaches who have had major influences on her career.
“It was really interesting to finally make it official,” said Irving, who fell in love with BU when she was in sixth grade.
Irving expects to be an inside player at BU, although she said, “I’ll probably range around a little bit.
“I like to stick inside the post, but if [I] catch the ball at the 3-point line and I’m open, I feel confident enough to take the shot now,” she added.