ST. AGATHA, Maine — On Monday, the Wisdom High School Pioneers basketball team made the program’s first Cross Insurance Center appearance in the Class D North tournament since 2016.
This 7-player Aroostook County team includes 3 freshmen and 2 eighth-graders. Lilly Roy is 13. The quick and tenacious eighth-grader, who stands 4-foot-10, is the point guard.
The fifth-seeded Pioneers (11-8) gave a good account of themselves, erasing a 17-point first-half deficit before losing to No. 4 Shead of Eastport 39-34.
Roy is one of two eighth-graders on the Wisdom team along with Colleen Thomsen. The Pioneers have only seven players and three are freshmen: Abigail Lerman, Kylie Pelletier and Olivia Ouellette.
Savanna Hanlin and Emma Chamberland are juniors for Wisdom, a school with 67 students.
Roy and the 14-year-old Ouellette said their first game in the Cross Insurance Center was memorable.
“It was good. It was fun,” said Roy, who admitted that she was nervous at first.
“It was nerve-wracking, but as we kept playing, I got more comfortable,” Ouellette said.
Roy said the biggest adjustment was getting used to the large crowd.
“There were a lot more fans than we get at Wisdom,” Roy said.
“We only have five rows of bleachers,” Ouellette pointed out.
The players said they benefited from attending a University of Maine women’s game a week ago.
“We came as a team and they were really nice to us. We got to play some 3-on-3 after the game,” coach Scott Pelletier said. “It helped us.”
Pelletier is back as the coach after a two-year hiatus, and he wants to build the program into a consistent tournament team.
He was the coach when Wisdom made its last visit to the Cross Insurance Center in 2016, losing to Southern Aroostook of Dyer Brook 38-32 in overtime in their quarterfinal after beating Easton 42-35 in a prelim game.
“I’m going to be patient with it,” Pelletier said. “I believe in the process. I’ve been at it a little while.”
The 5-foot-10 Ouellette averaged 11 points and eight rebounds per game this season. She provided 10 points and 11 rebounds against a much taller Shead team.
Roy averaged 10 points and had a game-high 13 against Shead to go with four rebounds and three assists.
“We’re going to work this summer and get better and stronger,” Roy said.
“We aren’t hanging our heads [after the loss]. We’ll be back next year. You’re going to hear about Wisdom,” Pelletier said.
Shead coach Corey Sullivan was impressed with the Pioneers.
“They scrap and scrap and scrap. They’re a good team,” Sullivan said.