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Amy Vachon only has one more year.
And while it will be a sad year for her coach and dad Paul Vachon, there are scores of relieved Eastern Maine Class A coaches.
But it’s another opportunity to be named to the Bangor Daily News All-Maine Schoolgirl Basketball Team’s top five.
The Cony of Augusta guard spends her second year on the first team, with fellow 1994 member Kelly Bowman of Nokomis of Newport. Rival guard Briana Fecteau of Westbrook, Schenck of East Millinocket guard Carrie Cram, and McDonald’s Miss Maine Basketball Allison Booth of Kennebunk also garnered first team honors.
It’s the first time Booth, Fecteau, and Cram have made the cut – Booth was on the 1994 second team, Fecteau on the third team, and Cram honorable mention.
The All-Maine schoolgirl team, in its 19th edition this year, recognizes the state’s best 15 players, regardless of class or position, as selected by the NEWS sports staff with input from coaches, officials, and other veteran observers.
The second team is dominated by 6-foot-plus forwards Katie Clark of Bangor, Kelly Dow of Calais, and Andrea Clark of Madison, plus Erin Cole-Karagory of Caribou, and diminutive guard Cara Millett of Portland.
Holli Tapley of Calais, Allison Marshall of Marshwood of Eliot, and Shannon Field of Old Town make up the third team frontcourt. In the backcourt are Liza Doughty, the Eastern Maine Class B Northern Division player of the year, and Gladys Ganiel, the four-time McDonald’s All-Star foul shooting champion, from Narraguagus of Harrington.
First Team
Vachon had a whirlwind season – a 22-0 record, Cony’s first state championship since 1989, her 1,000th point, and was named to a myriad of teams, including All-Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference, the Bangor Daily News’ Class A All-Tourney team, and the Maine Sunday Telegram Class A team.
While the accolades and statistics are impressive, what really stands out is Vachon’s 9.2 assists per game.
“A lot of the kids tried to emulate her style,” said Paul Vachon. “You can see it in the younger kids – Tracey Frye, Janet Riese.”
“You can really see that when you look at her play,” he continued. “She’s got that love of the game.”
Bowman has a lot of honorary company this postseason, sharing All-Tourney and Telegram Class A honors with Vachon and Fecteau, in addition to being named Big East player of the year.
The UMaine-bound senior led her team to an Eastern Maine runner-up finish with a 16-5 record.
“I’d been told what a good player she was – her old coach thought that she was the best player in the state,” said Nokomis first-year coach Jeff Richards.
“She’s physically and mentally very tough,” he continued. “When something’s needed, she comes up with it.”
This year’s Fecteau is a souped-up version of last year’s model.
“It was a matter of her changing her game around,” Coach Ben Palubinskas said. “She had to start working on taking the shots and not passing quite as much.”
Westbrook lost an imposing backcourt to graduation, including 1994 All-Mainer Ali Bachelder. With fewer scoring options, Fecteau came through big, leading the 18-4 Blue Blazes to the Class A state championship game.
“She really was embarrassed about scoring so much,” Palubinskas said. “I had to talk to her a couple of times because she didn’t like taking so many shots.
Cram closed out an impressive high school career with this year’s Class C state championship, providing a bookend to her freshman 1992 championship.
The lone Class C representative to the first team, the Husson-headed forward was named to the McDonald’s C-D All-Stars and the All-Academic team, and the Telegram’s Class C first team, after her team’s 20-2 season.
“I think since she was real young, she just had a tremendous work ethic, she put so much time into the game, playing in the summer,” said Schenck coach Jay Brown. “I just saw her putting a new net up last night while I was jogging by – she must have worn the old one out.”
Scoring more than 1,500 points and blocking 450-plus shots over four years, there’s little wonder why Booth was a four-time Western Maine Class B All-Star.
“In our defense, we set a kind of matchup zone and it gives her an opportunity to be close to the basket and to get the rebound,” said Harold Hanson, Kennebunk’s coach. “She actually rebounds better when there are people taller than her around.”
“She’s young and she has not reached her full potential. She has a lot of growing to do, and I don’t just mean physically,” he said.
That’s good news for Boston College, which has given Booth a full scholarship.
Second Team
Katie Clark is a “workhorse.”
A Big East All-Conference player, Clark led the Rams in every category – points, rebounds, steals, and assists – through an emotional 10-10 season, which ended in a double-overtime EM semifinal loss to Nokomis.
Clark’s shoulders got a little broader in crucial games this season, including a must-win final game at Old Town, scoring 34 of her team’s 58 points. The junior forward also scored 49 of her team’s 104 points in two tournament appearances.
“Obviously, Katie is blessed with great talent, and Division I size,” said coach Tom Tennett. “I think when kids are blessed with talent, they might not always work as hard, but that’s certainly not the case with Katie.”
Dow is a coach’s post player – the one who’s always open for a pass, in the right spot for a rebound, and a quiet, dependable scorer.
But that’s how she helped lead the Blue Devils to the EM Class C title game.
“Kelly’s a real good post player,” said coach Bob McShane. “She’s got some great moves and (sophomore guard) Holli (Tapley) does a good job of getting the ball to Kelly.”
Andrea Clark figured out early where she wanted to go with basketball.
Starting as a 9-year-old with Amateur Athletic Union basketball with Paul Vachon, she learned to run, press, and handle the ball.
“He runs and you have to run with him or you’re left behind,” said Madison coach Al Veneziano of Clark’s early days. “I think it’s (the key to her success), working hard – she figured out real quick what she wanted to do with basketball.”
Now she can do it all as she heads for the University of Maine.
To hear coach George Moran relive his favorite Cole-Karagory moments, you get the idea this was one of his favorite seasons.
The Caribou coach has good reason to be excited about his Big East All-Conference and All-Tourney forward, who also led her 12-7 team in all categories.
“She scored 20 in the third quarter when we were down,” he recalled of her 42-point effort against Nokomis. “She hit 3’s, she took her man one-on-one, she took everything.”
The McDonald’s All-Star game, featuring soon-to-be rival Bowman, was a good warmup for the North Atlantic Conference-rival, Boston University-signed Millett.
“I don’t think there’s anybody quicker in the state; her first step to the hoop is the quickest,” said coach Ed Feeney of his 23-point, eight-assist guard. “She sees the floor really well, and she’d rather make an assist than the score. I had to get on her a couple of times for that.”
Third Team
For a sophomore, guard Tapley has attracted a lot of attention.
She was named to the Telegram’s Class C first team and now makes her first appearance on the All-Maine team.
After averaging 19.1 points per game, Marshall had an above-par performance at the Class B state championship, as she led her undefeated team past Stearns with 22 points and seven rebounds.
Strapped to a young team, three-time Big East All-Star Field had to turn her game up a notch.
“She had some real consistent games for us in the middle of the season and turned us into a tournament-level team,” said coach Garry Spencer.
What can you say about a player who does it all?
“She a coach’s dream,” said coach Tracie Martin of her four-year letterwinner Ganiel. “She’s got a 99 average, she’s our leading scorer, she’s the person who handles the ball 90 percent of the time.”
Next year, the three-time state Class C cross country champion will run for Providence College.
Doughty may be the best-kept secret in Eastern Maine Class B. Her game was bolstered by a midseason offensive change, which allowed her to put together four 30-plus-point games.
“At one point in the season, we were bogged down,” recalled Hawks coach Bob Clukey, “and I said to her, `We’re going to get you to open up,’ and the next night, we went down to Ellsworth and (she) scored 36 points.”
1995 All-Maine Schoolgirl Basketball Team
FIRST TEAM
Name School Class Ht. PPG RPG
Amy Vachon Cony Jr. 5-7 19.3 5.2
Kelly Bowman Nokomis Sr. 5-10 23.0 10.0
Briana Fecteau Westbrook Jr. 5-7 25.2 7.2
Carrie Cram Schenck Sr. 5-7 19.6 6.9
Allison Booth Kennebunk Sr. 6-4 19.4 15.4
SECOND TEAM
Name School Class Ht. PPG RPG
Katie Clark Bangor Jr. 6-0 22.2 10.3
Kelly Dow Calais Jr. 6-2 12.7 9.0
Andrea Clark Madison Sr. 6-1 19.1 13.0
Erin Cole-Karagory Caribou Jr. 5-9 23.2 8.2
Cara Millett Portland Sr. 5-4 23.0 2.0
THIRD TEAM
Name School Class Ht. PPG RPG
Holli Tapley Calais Soph. 5-7 11.6 n/a
Allison Marshall Marshwood Jr. 5-8 19.1 8.9
Shannon Field Old Town Sr. 5-9 20.0 10.0
Liza Doughty Hermon Jr. 5-6 19.0 3.3
Gladys Ganiel Narraguagus Sr. 5-5 17.5 4.0
HONORABLE MENTION: Cara Moir, Stearns, Jr.; Amy Taylor, Orono, Sr.; Margo Bailey, Erskine Academy, Sr.; Amy McKellar, Morse, Sr., Allison Cropley, Maine Central Institute, Sr.; Mary Beth Coughlin, Cony Sr.; Cheryl Saucier, Biddeford, Sr.; Kim Condon, Presque Isle, Soph.; Janet Corneil, Southern Aroostook, Sr.; Shelby Fontaine, Marshwood, Sr.; Jen LaRouche, Old Orchard Beach, Fr.; Mia Lombardo, Georges Valley, Jr.; Heather Pelletier, Fort Kent, Sr.; Jan Beal, Jonesport-Beals, Jr.; Rebecca Fletcher, Dirigo, Jr.; Sarah Libby, Edward Little, Sr.; Brynn Clough, Brewer, Sr.; Becky Googins, John Bapst, Sr.; Wendy Ivey, Hodgdon, Jr.; Heather Rosebush, Schenck, Sr.
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