Girls hoop powers Nokomis, MDI meet tonight

For the Mount Desert Island and Nokomis girls basketball teams, twice-a-year matchups aren’t as much about earning Heal Points as they are about playing against tough competition.

This time around, with the Class B Trojans having beaten the Class A Warriors earlier this season, Nokomis has a bit more on the line. The two teams face off tonight at the Nokomis High gym in Newport at 7 p.m.

Nokomis has won six straight since the season-opening loss to MDI, including Saturday’s 57-41 victory over a tough Hampden squad at the Bangor Auditorium (MDI coach Burt Barker was at the Auditorium Saturday to get a look at the Warriors).

“We didn’t get the results we wanted down there, we didn’t feel we played the way we’re capable of playing, so we’ll get another shot,” Nokomis coach Earl Anderson said. “We’re excited. They’re a good team and it’s going to be a great game.”

Barker’s Trojans are one of the few undefeated teams left in the state. MDI beat Orono 75-28 Friday for its most recent win, but the Red Riots were without standout post player Jessica Wagner, who was out with an injury.

The Trojans are led by 6-foot-1 point guard Bracey Barker, who will play for the University of Maine next year, but senior guard Shelley Gott made the difference in the Dec. 13 game.

Gott scored 21 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter, just as Nokomis had cut the lead to 27-24 at the end of the third.

“I think we learned a lot of things,” Anderson said. “I think it brought some things to the front right away, nothing that I’m going to say. Let everybody else figured it out. We had some things get exposed, things we already knew, but it made us look at them.”