Camden Hills coach striving for continued improvement

Sitting in his office one afternoon after practice, Camden Hills coach Jay Carlsen hardly sounded like the guy in charge of one of the top girls basketball teams in the state.

The Windjammers had won 12 games going into Friday’s game against Oak Hill of Sabattus and are currently second in the Class B Southeastern standings, but at times he hasn’t been happy with their team defense. They haven’t always played in synch, or looked for the open player, or had consistent shooting efforts. There’s been a lot of pressure on the team since before the season started, he said, and a preseason knee injury to senior forward Lauren Withey made things harder.

But Carlsen has reason to believe things have turned around. First, the team has displayed in recent games more of a willingness to play together. And second, Withey is slowly working her way back into the lineup.

“It’s that mental attitude of how am I going to score, what can I do to help my team defensively,” Carlsen said of the Windjammers, who have lost twice to undefeated Winslow. “I think we’re starting to realize that. I think we’re playing a little bit more unselfishly right now, making the extra pass if someone else has a better shot.”

Of course, it’s a big help that Withey is back playing limited but increased minutes.

Withey, who tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee in the preseason, recently got the OK to play with a brace. The former KVAC all-star and all-Maine honorable mention player has not started a game yet but Carlsen has already seen a big difference with her on the floor. He especially noticed it in recent games against Maranacook of Readfield and Erskine of South China.

“In the second half of the Maranacook game I felt like we needed her on the court and she said she was fine,” Carlsen said. “Against Erskine she was our first person off the bench and with her on the floor it was a good combination. She’s our leader. She’s the floor leader that we really haven’t had. She was talking constantly in dead balls or free throws or timeouts, asking me what we need to be in, what we’re doing. It was nice. It was the first time we’ve had that all season long.”

In Withey’s absence other players have come to the fore, including scoring leader foward Andrea Blanchard (15 points per game), guards Charlotte Croce and Lucy Sommo, and post players Aimee Hoffman and Stephanie McIntyre, but Carlsen said the team is now at the point where each player understands her role.

“There was an adjustment period and I think that’s one of the reasons that we kind of struggled,” he said. “Are we at a better point in the season of knowing what we can do? I think we are. I think we’re starting to believe in ourselves more now, trust our teammates more. How far we’re going to go, I can’t say. There’s a lot of ifs and buts.”

Senior-less Belfast one to watch

With an 8-6 record after Thursday’s win over Rockland, the Belfast girls basketball team seems to be moving in the right direction as the regular season winds down. With the relatively rare case of no seniors on the team, the Lions are sure to be a team to watch next season, too.

Two of Belfast’s top three players stats-wise are sophomores, guard-forward Katelyn Ross (about 13 points per game) and forward-center Kaitlyn Murphy (11 rebounds per game). Only two juniors started Thursday’s game, point guard Morgan Crandall and guard Ashley Bryant (14 ppg), and the fifth starter is sophomore guard Lyndsey Bryant.

Belfast may have lacked some floor leadership earlier this season, but Murphy said the Lions continue to become more of a team as the season wears on.

“In the beginning of the season we struggled a little because we didn’t have someone who emerged as a leader right away,” she said. “But we’ve come together some and I think we’re still growing a lot.”

Not only are the Lions young in their starting rotation, but they’ve got some talented players on the bench as well. Freshman guard Sam Ellis provided a nice spark off the bench in Thursday’s game, as did post players Kate Bailey and Cassedy Groening.

“Next year’s going to be wonderful because we don’t have to fill any spots or any big holes from losing anyone to graduation,” Murphy said. “We’re just going to pick up where we left off. We have a lot of good players coming up in the program. There’s some good talent.”