Sirois leads East to A-B all-star victory

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BANGOR – For some, it was a chance to renew old rivalries in a good-natured way. For others, it was a chance to gauge themselves against some of the best basketball players in the state. For all of them, it was a fun way to let the curtain fall on some memorable and impressive high school careers.

“It” was Maine McDonald’s East-West Senior All-Star Games Saturday, and about the only things on the line were bragging rights. At least for this year, those were won by the East A-B team and the West C-D squad in the girls games.

Lyndsay Clark from Dirigo of Dixfield scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead the West to a 65-54 triumph in the morning C-D game at Husson College’s Newman Gym. The East A-B girls won their second straight as Cony of Augusta’s Karen Sirois scored 13 points to lead a balanced scoring attack in a 56-50 victory in the afternoon game.

In the A-B game, all of Sirois’ points, ironically, came in the first half, yet her point total was still tops in the game. Sirois contributed in other ways by running the break and causing defensive pressure as the East enjoyed a 13-22 edge in turnovers.

“That was one thing we really concentrated on,” said Sirois, who will play for the University of Maine-Farmington next season. “We only had two practices, so we wanted to run offensively and pressure the ball on defense.”

Sirois’ teammates were a veritable Who’s Who of Eastern Maine marquee hoop names, from Miss Maine Basketball Bracey Barker of Mount Desert Island to fellow finalist Danielle Clark from Nokomis of Newport to Barker’s soon-to-be University of Maine teammate Ashley Underwood of Cony.

Barker admitted she felt the urge to try and live up to her award billing.

“There was a little bit of pressure, but no, it was just a fun thing to do and play against some great athletes,” said Barker, who finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.

And then there were players such as Hampden Academy forward Emmy Russell, whose team hasn’t gone very far in the playoffs the last two years. This was a chance for her to finish her career on a high note.

“I had a wonderful career and senior season at Hampden, but once we lost, I hadn’t really realized high school basketball was over,” Russell said. “We didn’t necessarily have a lot of success the last couple years, so this is kind of a nice way to be able to compare the kind of caliber player I am.”

She compared favorably as she hustled her way to eight points, three rebounds, and a team-leading three steals.

“I’m not the best shooter in the world as far as technique, but I’m a very intense player, and when you’re playing with such a highly skilled group of people, sometimes it helps to have that and that’s the way I like to play,” said Russell, whose first choice for college is Division II St. Anselm in Manchester, N.H.

Russell helped the East overcome a 46-37 rebounding deficit and free throw shooting disadvantage (37.5 percent to 80.0) and hold off a late West charge. Miss Maine finalist and foul shooting champ Sarah Marshall from McAuley of Portland scored eight of her 13 points in the fourth quarter as the West narrowed the gap from 12 points with 41/2 minutes to play to four with 19 seconds left, but despite a 1-for-1 effort from the line by the East in the last 93 seconds, Marshall’s effort wasn’t quite enough.

York’s Katie Lutts had 10 points and eight boards for the West while South Portland’s Abigail Lesneski finished with eight points and nine rebounds.

In the C-D game, the West got off to a quick start, using a superior transition game to build a 19-7 lead in the first quarter and then used a 10-0 run in the second to all but ice the game.

“That’s what most of us have to do on our teams anyway, so it kind of makes sense that we can all run and bring the ball up the court,” said the 6-foot-1 Lyndsay Clark, who will be playing for Division I Albany next season.

The East finished with a flurry, using an 8-2 run midway through the fourth quarter to cut the West lead to 10 points, but that was as close as things would get.

Sara Martin from Mount Abram in Strong had 11 points.

Central Aroostook of Mars Hills’ Gabrielle Smith led the East with 15 points. Calais’ Crystal Martin had 13 points, and Amanda Godley from East Grand of Danforth had 10 rebounds.

“It’s kind of sad to play your last high school game,” Martin said. “Everything was like the last this and the last that during the tournament, but now this really is the last one ever.”

“It’s not every day you get to play with the top girls in the state,” said Smith. “I didn’t know a lot of them, but it was great to meet the other girls and play here.”

C-D WEST STARS 65, EAST STARS 54

West East

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Martin 3 7 3 4 11 Lyons 2 7 6

Boyd 2 8 0 0 5 Legassey 0 1 1

Gowell 2 5 4 5 8 Barbee 1 3 2

Vincent 0 5 2 2 2 Godley 1 6 3

Moore 4 8 0 2 9 Smith 6 11 15

Drosdik 2 6 0 0 4 Ahearn 0 4 5

McIntosh 0 4 3 6 3 Slike 2 7 5

Sibley 1 6 0 0 2 McGary 1 6 2

Clark 6 9 2 4 14 Foster 1 2 2

Burns 3 5 1 3 7 Martin 4 6 13

Totals 23 63 15 26 65 18 53 15 24 54

West 22 39 52 65

East 8 24 36 54

3-pt. goals ? West (4-7): Martin 2-4, Moore 1-1, Boyd 1-2; East (3-11): Lyons 2-4, Smith 1-4, Slike 0-3

Attendance: 450 (est.)

A-B EAST STARS 56, WEST STARS 50

West A-B girls East

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Welch 1 5 0 0 3 Underwood 3 8

Marshall 5 11 3 3 13 Blanchard 0 0

Martin 0 0 0 0 0 Sirois 5 9 13

Googins 3 6 1 2 7 Murray 0 1 0

Witherspoon 1 4 0 0 2 Welch 0 4 0

Brackett 0 5 0 0 0 Barker 4 14 10

Lesneski 3 9 1 1 8 Gott 1 7 4

Charron 0 5 0 0 0 Hilton 3 4 6

Simpson 3 8 1 2 7 Clark 2 9 7

Lutts 4 8 2 2 10 Russell 4 7 8

Totals 20 61 8 10 50 22 64 16 56

West 16 25 32 50

East 17 35 43 56

3-pt. goals ? West (2-7): Googins 1-1, Welch 1-2, Lesneski 0-1, Charron 0-1, Simpson 0-2; East (6-20): Sirois 3-4, Barker 2-5, Underwood 1-4, Murray 0-1, Gott 0-1, Welch 0-2, Clark 0-3

Attendance: 400 (est.)