West’s best eager to vie for state titles> Dirigo girls facing Calais for 3rd year

If the matchup for Saturday’s girls Class C state championship game looks familiar, it should.

Western Maine champion Dirigo of Dixfield has played Calais in the past two title games. Each team has walked away with a championship, most recently Eastern Maine champ Calais.

The Cougars will have a chance to avenge that defeat when they meet the Blue Devils at the Augusta Civic Center at 7:10 p.m. on Saturday.

“We’ve got plenty of seniors who would love to go out with a gold ball,” coach Gavin Kane said of his upperclassmen, who have compiled a 76-7 record over four years.

Senior guard Mary Gill averages 7.0 assists and Niki Dominiczak leads the team with 18.2 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. The Cougars are also blessed with height in the frontcourt. Senior forward Lisa Konopoka is listed at 5-10 and center Kristi Sayer tops the squad at 6-0. The other forward, Rachel Chow, is a 5-8 senior.

Saturday’s matchup features similar teams – both Calais and Dirigo have size, speed and outside scoring ability.

“They seem to be a very well-rounded team,” Kane said.

The 19-2 Greely Rangers of Cumberland Center are back to play for the Class B title in Friday evening’s matchup against Orono at the Bangor Auditorium. Game time is 7:37 p.m.

“We’re playing much better as a team,” Greely coach George Conant said of the difference between the 1997 and 1998 squads. “This time last year we weren’t as mature and we weren’t ready to play at this level,”

The change in the team has a direct corrolation to the growth of junior point guard Jasmine Ashe, who runs the Rangers’ offense, Conant added.

“She’s my leader,” he said. “She’s much more mature and it’s absolutely great the way the other kids have accepted her.”

Gorham coach Carol Merrifield, whose Rams played the Rangers twice during the regular season and lost to them in the finals, said Ashe is the key to Greely’s success.

“She runs the offense and keys a lot of fast breaks,” Merrifield said.

Junior guard Krista Wakefield may be the Rangers’ best defender, Merrifield said. Wakefield held Gorham’s best player, Carla Flaherty, to just two points in the regional title game.

“She’s very unselfish,” Merrifield said. “She can shoot the 3 and go to the basket but she can play defense if they need her to.”

Three-point threat Lori Kempton leads Greely with 10.8 points per game.

The Rangers also has a six-footer in center Katie Grayton, while 5-11 captain Nicolle Madigan, who leads the team with 6.7 rebounds per game.

Greely also has an explosive bench weapon in the freshman Morgan DiPietro, who led the Rangers in the finals with 16 points.

Friday’s championship game should make for an interesting contest as the Rangers face the slower, more deliberate Orono. The Rangers like to play a fast man-to-man defense and run a full-court press.

“I think whoever controls the tempo will control the game,” Conant said.

Western Maine Class D champion Monmouth Academy finished with a 18-0 regular season despite myriad injuries.

The squad topped North Yarmouth Academy for the regional title last weekend.

The Mustangs’ leading scorer and standout of the young squad is Kate Chuprevich. The sophomore center averaged 15.1 points and 11 rebounds during the regular season and 28 points in the tournament. She had a 37-point performance in the semifinals, which broke the Western Maine tournament record for points in a single game.

Monmouth’s second-leading scorer is one of the walking wounded – sophomore Abby Carter, who averaged 10.8 points in the regular season, fractured her leg on the final day of the season.

At least four of Monmouth’s starters are sophomores, but the Mustangs do have senior leadership in the form of Laurel Poole, who was named the tournament Most Valuable Player. Poole had been averaging about nine points during the season but upped her average to about 12 during the tourney.

Monmouth will face Wisdom of St. Agatha for the Class D state title at 2:07 p.m. in Augusta Saturday.