Eastern Maine players help USM gain success

Four Eastern Maine women have played various roles in the University of Southern Maine’s surge to the NCAA Division III basketball tournament’s round of 16.

The Huskies, 25-3 and winners of 10 straight, will travel to Scranton, Pa., to face the host University of Scranton in the first Mid-Atlantic Sectional semifinal Friday at 6 p.m. Scranton is 26-3.

Western Connecticut State will play Johns Hopkins (Md.) in the second semifinal at 8 p.m. The winners will play Saturday at 7 p.m. for the right to advance to the national final four on March 21-22 at a site to be determined.

USM, which has been to the round of 16 five time in the last six years, has put in a bid to host the tourney.

Dexter’s Mandy King is a senior co-captain and the point guard, averaging a team-high five assists and two steals per game. She also leads the team in 3-pointers (50), 3-point attempts (132) and 3-point shooting percentage (37.9 percent). King, who has one year of eligibility remaining, has averaged nine points per game.

Hampden’s Ali Hathaway is a freshman backup point guard who has dished out 38 assists and made 11 steals in 26 games.

Former Rockland High standout Susan Ware is a sophomore reserve forward averaging 4.5 points and 3.3 rebounds per game and Skowhegan sophomore Destiny Demo, who was slowed by a broken foot suffered in preseason, has averaged 3.2 points and 2.4 rebounds as a backup forward.

“Mandy has had a very good year. She has shown a lot of character coming back from two ACL [knee] surgeries, one her senior year in high school and the other last year,” said 10-year USM Coach Gary Fifield.

“Ali has come on real strong since our last game at Westerlast month. She’s doing a great job defensively as well as handling the ball and distributing it. She plays about 30 minutes a game off the bench,” he added.

Ware, according to Fifield, averages around “8-9 minutes aupon the matchups” and he said Demo has not had the year he expected due to her broken foot.

In addition to King, the other starters for USM are York’s Joanna Brown (16.3 ppg, 8.9 rpg), Falmouth’s Tracy Libby (11.1 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 2.5 bpg), Gorham’s Julie Plant (9.6 ppg, 3.4 apg, 3 rpg) and Greely High of Cumberland Center’s Karen Raven (6.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg).

Bangor High School boys basketball coach Roger Reed, who has guided his Rams to three state Class A championships in the last five years, headlines a list of inductees into the University of Maine-Farmington Athletics Hall of Fame.

The induction ceremony will be held on March 22.

Reed played baseball and basketball at Farmington State Teachers College (now UMF) before graduating in 1965.

He will be joined by Darcy Reynolds Emerson of Nobleboro; Paul Nadeau of Old Orchard Beach; Wayne Nelson of Boothbay; S. Richard Whittier of Fairfield, Conn., and the late Edward T. “Mickey” Maguire.

Also being honored will be the 1977-78 UMF women’s state basketball championship team.

John Mitchell, who has coached basketball for 30 years at Colby College, including the last 27 as an assistant for men’s head coach Dick Whitmore, will be honored for his contributions with a dinner and celebration in the gym at the Harold Alfond Athletic Center on April 12. It will begin with a 6 p.m. reception.

Mitchell played for Waterville High’s 1944 New England championship team and played at the University of Rhode Island before taking coaching jobs at Waterville High and John Bapst of Bangor. He then joined the Colby staff and is an unpaid volunteer assistant.

He is the brother of former Sen. George Mitchell.