Youthful Nokomis, veteran McAuley meet for state title

It wasn’t so long ago that Nokomis’ four sophomore starters were playing for a Corinna Junior High team that went undefeated for almost three straight years.

But two of the girls have been watching Eastern Maine tournament games from the Bangor Auditorium stands for what seems like forever.

Michelle Murray, a 5-foot-8 Warriors guard, can’t remember exactly when she and 6-foot forward Danielle Clark first went to the Auditorium, but she does have a way to estimate.

“There was one picture where Danielle and I had Mighty Ducks hats on and we were in the upper balcony,” Murray recalled this week. “We were so small, Danielle and I were the same height. That’s how young we were.”

Both girls are taller now, of course (Clark is much taller now), and the young Warriors gained enough experience to have beaten No. 1 Cony of Augusta in the Eastern Maine Class A final Monday. The Warriors of Newport will take on Western Maine champion Catherine McAuley of Portland for the state championship tonight at 7:10 at the Auditorium.

Nokomis has certainly given young players in the stands a lot to dream about this year. Coach Earl Anderson knew he had a talented bunch to complement returning starter Laura Pelkey, and the different ages, styles and experiences have meshed well.

“These guys really get a long well,” Anderson said. “Laura and Nicole [Palmer, Nokomis’ only other senior] have been great captains and they’ve done a really good job, not only having those guys fit in, but they’ve made an effort to fit in with them.”

To prepare for McAuley’s height and guard play, the Warriors were at the Maine Central Institute gym in Pittsfield (their own gym was booked for a jazz ensemble event, and Anderson is a teacher at MCI) for Wednesday’s practice, going against members of MCI’s boys team, Huskies guard Amanda Leavitt, and former Nokomis guard Liz Mendell, who graduated last year.

“[Anderson] always says that we’re gonna be prepared better than any other team that we play and he sticks to that,” Pelkey said. “You can see that in our practices. We practice hard.”

The Lions are tall, deep and they’ve been to the state game before (McAuley lost to Mt. Blue of Farmington last year). Anderson had his matchups set days ago, and the Warriors are hoping the tough inside presence of Clark and the team’s 3-point shooting and defense will prevail.

Pelkey, a 5-10 forward, will go up against McAuley’s 5-11 star Justine Pouravelis in one of the key matchups. Lindsey Welch will have to defend Lion point guard and leading scorer Sarah Marshall in another important matchup, and Murray will guard 5-11 Tricia Freeman.

“We’ll have to box out and communicate well on defense,” Murray said.

Clark has had a breakout season. She was named the Eastern Maine Class A tourney MVP and averaged a Big East Conference-best 19.1 points per game.

Welch started the season as the point guard, but as the winter progressed Murray and Welch have split the role. They have done well stepping into Mendell’s shoes, but Pelkey keeps an eye on the young players.

“Even though I’m not the point guard I try to be the leader out there because they are young and they haven’t had the experience,” said Pelkey, a dangerous 3-point shooter and rebounder.

Clark, Pelkey, Welch and Murray are the Warriors’ primary offensive weapons. That leaves 5-8 Sara Lowe, who is a strong defensive presence, out of a lot of conversations about Nokomis.

“She is an excellent defensive player and she’s got incredible hands,” Pelkey said. “People might not see her in the scoring columns but her presence is awesome on the court.”

The offense gets a lot of attention, but defense has gotten the Warriors to this point. In Big East games this year they allowed 34.3 points per game, fewest in the conference.

Nokomis held Cony to a season-low 43 points in the EM final, while scoring 55 points. The Rams averaged 71.7 points per game in the regular season and allowed only 37.8 per game.