Miss Maine Basketball Anna DeWolfe of Greely High School in Cumberland Center and Maine Gatorade Player of the Year Mackenzie Holmes of Gorham High School headline the 43rd annual Bangor Daily News All-Maine Schoolgirl Basketball Team.
It is the fourth consecutive year each was chosen to the All-Maine team and is their third straight first-team recognition.
They are accompanied on the first team by Boothbay Region senior Faith Blethen and Biddeford senior Grace Martin, and Oxford Hills High School of South Paris junior Julia Colby. Martin and Blethen were second-team choices a year ago.
Skowhegan senior Annie Cooke earned a second-team slot for the second straight year and Brunswick senior Charlotte MacMillan moves up to the second team from last year’s third-team berth. They are joined on the second team by South Portland junior Maggie Whitmore, Hampden Academy senior Bailey Donovan and Kennebunk High School sophomore Emily Archibald.
Deering High of Portland senior Delaney Haines, who missed several games with a broken wrist, graces the third team which also features Massabesic of Waterboro senior Mckenzy Ouellette, Greely sophomore Camille Clement, Hermon senior Cait Tracy and Waterville High junior Sadie Garling.
Haines was a second-teamer last year.
FIRST TEAM
Deering head coach Mike Murphy and Oxford Hills of South Paris coach Nate Pelletier called the Indiana University-bound Holmes the best post player they have ever seen in the state.
“She is a true back-to-the-basket scorer. She’s really hard to defend,” Pelletier said.
“And she has added a transition game,” said Brunswick coach Sam Farrell. “She can finish with both hands and can also hit a pull-up jumper.”
The 6-foot-2 Holmes, the Class AA South Player of the Year, concluded her career with 1,745 points, 1,018 rebounds and 365 blocked shots. She averaged 30.1 points, 16.7 rebounds, 3.9 blocked shots and 2.3 steals this season.
“She has added a couple of moves away from the basket to alleviate the double-teams and triple-teams,” said Gorham coach Laughn Berthiaume. “And she shot 38 percent from beyond the 3-point line.”
Pelletier said DeWolfe is the best ball-handler in the state.
“She can go by anyone. You can’t guard her one-on-one,” Pelletier said. “She’s dynamic.”
DeWolfe, who will attend Fordham University, averaged 25 points thanks to 55 percent shooting from the floor, 6.5 steals and 6 assists per game. She led the Rangers to a second straight Class A state championship, scoring 104 points in four tournament games.
“She came up huge every time her team needed her to. She played her best in the biggest moments,” said Hampden Academy coach Nick Winchester. “And she is as good a defender as she is offensively. She is relentless.”
DeWolfe capped her career by shrugging off an ankle injury to notch 28 points, seven steals and five assists in the title-game victory over Hampden Academy.
“I didn’t think she could get any better after her junior year but she did,” said Greely coach Todd Flaherty. “She worked out and got physically stronger. She didn’t get bounced off the ball. That carried over to her defense and rebounding.”
Martin, who is bound for Harvard University, finished her career with 1,436 points despite missing nine games.
The Southern Maine Activities Association Class AA South Class A Co-Player of the Year averaged 25.1 points, 12.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.7 blocked shots.
“People ask me the best thing Grace does and I say everything,” said Biddeford coach Katie Herbine. “She can handle the ball, she’s a great passer, she can post up or she can take the ball to the basket.”
Herbine said Martin developed an outside shot and played tough defense, usually guarding the opponent’s best guard or forward.
“She’s one of the few players who can play point guard or center. She was their best ball-handler and she can shoot from outside,” Farrell said.
Colby, who led Oxford Hills to the AA state title with her stellar all-around game, scored a state-game record 34 points in the win over Scarborough.
Colby averaged 18.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4 steals and 3.2 assists.
“She’s one of these kids who works her rear end off in the gym all the time,” Pelletier said. “She has worked on her shot and it showed. She shot the ball real well from the 3-point line and she can get to the rim whenever she wants to. She can take a game over.”
“She’s always in the right place at the right time,” Murphy said. “She’s not flashy but she’s hard-nosed and fundamentally sound on both sides of the ball.”
Blethen led her father Brian’s Boothbay Region High team to the state Class C championship as she averaged 21 points, 10.4 rebounds, 5.8 steals and 5.8 assists per game. She ended her career with 1,223 points.
Blethen, who will attend Division I George Washington University, is another All-Maine choice who could play point guard or center.
“Her true value was her diversity,” Brian Blethen said. “She’s 6-1 but she could help us on the perimeter as well as inside. That was a real luxury to have.”
“She has always been a good ball-handler,” said Blethen, who added that Faith matured as a leader this season.
SECOND TEAM
The 6-foot Archibald, a sophomore who is a two-year captain, shared SMAA Class AA Co-Player of the Year honors while finishing in the top five in five league statistical categories.
She ranked second in rebounding (16.5 rpg), blocked shots (3.5) and free-throw percentage (.810) and was fourth in assists (3.5) and steals (3.8). She was sixth in scoring (16.1 ppg).
“She can handle the ball, she has great post moves and she rebounds the ball like nobody’s business,” Herbine said. “She has a great court presence.”
Kennebunk coach Rob Sullivan said Archibald is unique in her tremendous versatility.
“She’s 6-1 and she can play point guard or center. She was our best 3-point shooter at 45 percent, although she didn’t take a lot of them, and she shot 60 percent from the floor. She’d spend a lot of the game bringing the ball up the court and they would double-team her and she would still get 16 rebounds a game. Amazing.”
Donovan, who will attend Husson University, eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for her career while leading the Broncos to their second consecutive Class A North title.
“She takes a lot of baskets away at the rim and she’s an excellent foul shooter,” Flaherty said.
“She developed a lot this year,” said Skowhegan coach Mike LeBlanc. “You don’t get second shots [with her in the paint].”
“She has a rare combination of athleticism and quickness for somebody 6-foot-3,” said Hampden Academy coach Nick Winchester. “She would see double-teams every night and she still averaged 19 points, 15 rebounds and three blocked shots. She shot 55 percent from the floor and 75 percent from the free-throw line.”
Cooke was the Class A North Player of the Year for the second straight season as she led Skowhegan to 20 consecutive wins before losing to Hampden Academy in the regional final.
In addition to averaging 18.1 points and 8.7 rebounds, she also produced three assists and three steals per game.
“She was one of the best players we saw all year in all three phases of the game,” Winchester said. “She is a unique athlete. She is so athletic and physically strong. She has a great shooting touch and she runs the floor so well.”
“She got better every year,” said Skowhegan coach Mike LeBlanc. “She was consistent. And she always guarded the other team’s best big player.”
The 5-10 Whitmore made the transition from shooting guard to point guard this season and averaged 14 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.5 steals.
“She’s a great perimeter shooter who is also a real good finisher inside,” said South Portland coach Lynne Hasson. “Her best skill is her passing. She creates open shots for her teammates. She’s smooth and steady.”
“She’s a fantastic player,” Flaherty said.
MacMillan, a 5-9-guard who is going to Worcester State, was the Class A South Player of the Year for the second straight year after averaging 13.8 points, 6.9 rebounds, 4.4 steals, 4.3 assists and 2.1 blocks per game.
“She worked hard at being able to post up this year,” Farrell said. “She always guarded the other team’s best player and came up with some huge blocks for us.”
“She has a deadly shot. You can’t leave her alone,” Herbine said. “She’s a good ball-handler and she rebounds the ball when she needs to.”
THIRD TEAM
Garling was the KVAC North Class B Player of the Year after averaging 16.5 points, four rebounds and 2.5 assists while also getting 5-6 deflections per game in Waterville’s full-court press. She hit more than 60 3-pointers.
“She has always been able to shoot the ball,” said Waterville coach Rob Rodrigue. “It doesn’t take her long to get to the rim. And when teams overcompensate, she’ll make a play for a teammate.”
“She was a tough defender with her length and she did a real nice job scoring outside as well as getting to the rim,” said Hermon coach Chris Cameron.
Clement averaged 17 points and six rebounds as a guard who complemented DeWolfe.
“She is a tremendous shooter whose defense has come a long way,” Flaherty said. “She’s dynamic.”
“Her 3-point shooting is her bread-and-butter but she’s also a scrappy defender and battles on the boards. She tries to make an impact in all aspects of her game,” Berthiaume said.
Husson University-bound Tracy averaged 14.1 points, 8.2 rebounds and two blocked shots to lead an inexperienced Hermon team to a berth in the Class B semifinals. The All-Big East first-team pick shot 55.4 percent from the floor.
“One of the most impressive things about her was her versatility,” said Cameron. “She extended her shooting range. She has great hands and a great scoring touch around the basket.”
“She is a polished post player,” Roderigue said.
Haines missed eight games due to a broken wrist on her shooting arm but returned to the lineup and led the Rams to three regular-season wins and two playoff victories over their last seven games.
“She carried us is so many ways, not only scoring but defensively,” Murphy said. “And the most important thing was her ball-handling. When she came back, we didn’t have to worry about pressure defenses. She made everyone else better. She took the ball to the rack. Defensively, she had great anticipation. She had long arms and got a lot of deflections.”
The All-SMAA first teamer averaged 17 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.6 steals per game.
Massabesic’s Ouellette set the school record with 1,214 career points. She averaged 17.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.1 steals and 2.1 assists.
“She shot 32 percent for 3-pointers, could finish with both hands and was one of our top on-the-ball defenders,” said Massabesic coach Chris Aube. “She didn’t play on great teams here so defenses were designed to stop her and she still averaged 17 points per game in her career. She worked hard at the other aspects of her game, too.”
“She shot the 2 real well and had a very good midrange game,” Berthiaume said.
She will play at Division II St. Anselm in New Hampshire next season.