For the seniors on the undefeated Skowhegan High School girls basketball team, it is their last chance to earn some hardware as the North regional tournaments get under way in earnest on Friday at the Cross Insurance Center on Bangor, the Augusta Civic Center and two sites in Portland: the Cross Insurance Arena and the Portland Expo.
The Indians were the second seed in Class A a year ago but were upset 52-49 by No. 3 Messalonskee of Oakland in the semifinals. Hampden Academy wound up beating Messalonskee 42-37 in the A North final.
Mike LeBlanc’s Indians have won all but one game by at least 10 points. The only exception was the Winslow stall-ball game in which they triumphed 22-14.
Skowhegan hasn’t won a regional championship since 2010.
The Indians have five seniors who have grown together for four years and they want to put an exclamation point on their careers.
“We’ve played together since fourth grade,” said dynamic 5-foot-11 center Annie Cooke. “We know each other really well. We’ve had good chemistry.”
The Indians are allowing only 32.3 points per game and held Hampden Academy to 62 points in sweeping their regular-season games.
“We spend a lot of time in practice working on defense. Defensive intensity is a priority,” said Cooke, who added that their defense fuels their fast break.
Skowhegan’s two most challenging games came two weeks ago when they survived Winslow’s slowdown and then overcame a seven-point halftime deficit to overcome Class AA Bangor 55-43.
“They have responded well to adversity so far,” said LeBlanc.
Besides Cooke, who is averaging 18 points, the other senior starters are Alyssa Everett, Sydney Ames, Sydney Reed and Mariah Dunbar. And they also have a high-impact freshman in 5-11 guard Jaycie Christopher.
Cooke is the catalyst according to Brewer coach Chris Horr.
“She is an explosive player. She plays at a different speed than a lot of players in our league,” said Horr. “She can score inside and outside, she rebounds, she runs end to end. She does it all.”
Skowhegan meets No. 8 Camden Hills (7-11) at 8:30 p.m. Friday in the quarterfinals at the Augusta Civic Center. No. 2 Hampden Academy (14-4) begins defense of its title at 4:30 p.m. against No. 7 Erskine Academy of South China (10-8).
The Class B North tourney is intriguing with Mount Desert Island and Hermon atop the Heal Points standings with 16-2 records followed by the only unbeaten in 18-0 Waterville. The youthful, fourth-seeded Old Town Coyotes (14-4) missed the tourney last season but achieved a seven-win improvement.
MDI and Hermon split their regular-season games with each winning at home.
Defending state champ Winslow (12-6) won one fewer regular-season game under first-year head coach Brenda Beckwith but the Raiders are seeded one spot higher this season.
Winslow and Old Town square off at 1:35 p.m. Saturday at the Cross Insurance Center while Waterville takes on No. 11 John Bapst of Bangor (7-12) at 8 p.m. Friday night at the Cross Center, where the Crusaders play their home games.
There will be a new Class C North champion after No. 9 Stearns of Millinocket knocked off defending champ Houlton in the preliminary round.
Dexter, the No. 2 seed behind Central Aroostook of Mars Hill, lost in overtime in the final a year ago to Houlton. Standout Peyton Grant and Avery Herrick are now sophomores.
Nobody in the Class C tourney has more than four losses. No. 5 Narraguagus of Harrington and No. 6 Calais are both 18-1 with the losses coming against each other.
Stearns is the lowest-seeded quarterfinal team but the 15-4 Minutemen play 15-3 Central Aroostook of Mars Hill on Tuesday at 3:35 p.m.
Dexter (15-3) faces No. 7 Fort Fairfield (15-4) on Wednesday at 11:05 a.m..
Southern Aroostook of Dyer Brook (16-2) is the defending state champ in D and is the top seed behind veteran players Kassidy Mathers, Makaelyn Porter, Kylie Vining, Kacy Daggett and Sydney Brewer.
Second seed Deer Isle-Stonington wound up 16-0 and is the only unbeaten team in the division but only two of the eight teams on the Mariners’ schedule had winning records.
Top seed Oxford Hills of South Paris (17-2) is the only team in AA North with fewer than seven losses.