BANGOR – There have been plenty of rumors, but sometime around April vacation Burt Barker will decide if he wants to return for his 20th season as the Mount Desert Island girls basketball coach.

Barker coached the Trojans to their third straight Eastern Maine Class B title Saturday, but with six seniors and all but one starter graduating, plus the fact that his daughter, MDI point guard Bracey Barker, will play at the University of Maine next year, have him wavering.

“I’m still considering [coming back],” he said. “I’ll set up summer basketball, see how enthused the kids are, get the AAU stuff started, and then I’ll make a decision.”

Barker said he was thinking about retiring in 1997, when older daughter Brianne Barker graduated from MDI after helping the team to that year’s Class B state title. But as Bracey progressed and grew – she’s now 6-foot-1 – he felt a pull to stay with the team.

“She hit the eighth grade and she started to grow and I thought ‘If I get done now, somebody’s gonna come in and make her a post player, and I don’t want to see that,'” he said. “I would like to watch her play next year.”

Smith’s sub shines

Whenever Woodland’s Katie Smith has gotten into foul trouble – and it happened in the Eastern Maine Class D semifinal and final – the Dragons know they has an able substitute in 5-11 senior Kati Holmes.

Woodland coach Arnold Clark said he’s noticed that Holmes has made a difference in the last couple of regular-season games and in the tournament.

“Early in the season she was trying to do things she just wasn’t comfortable with,” he said. “But recently she’s been rebounding, taking that shot in there, and boxing people off the boards, and she’s done a real good job in there. And she can shoot the ball. You give her the ball in the box and she will put it in.”

Holmes is probably better known as a member of Woodland’s state championship volleyball team. She was named the Gatorade Maine High School Volleyball Player of the Year and had 193 kills, 67 service aces, 37 digs, 23 assists, and 12 blocks last fall.

“She’s amazingly quick with her hands and I don’t know if she gets that from volleyball or what,” Clark said. “She just whacks that ball and gets it out of there.”

Lee 3-point shooters hot

Another record for team 3-pointers nearly fell in Saturday’s EM Class D final as the Lee girls made seven 3-pointers.

Kristin Hersom made three and Melissa Hanscom and Ashlee Gifford each made two.

“It’s a positive note,” Lee coach Carrie Goodhue said.

The Pandas now share the record with Shead of Eastport teams from 1997 and 1998.

The MDI girls made nine 3-pointers in their Class B quarterfinal to break the mark in that classification.

Black Bears appreciate Leary

Even though Maranacook’s Erin Leary didn’t get to play in the tourney this year, coach Mike Packard said his team appreciates its senior captain, who has stayed with the team even as her playing time diminished.

Leary started about half of the games during her sophomore year, during which the Black Bears won only two games. An influx of good young players has left the 5-11 center on the bench since then, but the sacrifice has paid off with continued team improvement. Maranacook earned a quarterfinal berth last year and got to the Eastern Maine Class B final this year.

“She was part of the group that stuck together,” Packard said. “She’s accepted a role this year that not a lot of people could have done. Not only did she accept it, but she did it well. We were 2-17 two years ago. This year we were four points away from playing for a gold ball.”

Vikings’ virus

It was amazing enough for the East Grand boys of Danforth to shrink a 21-point deficit to six in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s Eastern D boys final.

The fact they were able to do it with four starters suffering from bronchitis was nothing short of astounding.

“We were dragging pretty hard and it showed offensively. We missed some layups and they were out of gas,” said East Grand coach Troy Cilley. “Coming back from 18 at halftime was just a little too much.”

Cilley said the practice schedule was unwieldy, with so many players missing time to sickness.

“Yesterday was the worst. We had a couple guys who didn’t even practice,” Cilley said. “Matt Scott was the only one who wasn’t sick of all our starters.”