The top of the 2004 Eastern Maine Class D girls basketball tournament field is like a trident.

No, not the sugarless gum that three out of four dentists recommend to their patients who chew gum … We’re talking about the three-pronged weapon associated with sea gods.

In this case, the sharp points of D’s tourney trident are Southern Aroostook High School of Dyer Brook, Hodgdon, and Lee Academy.

All three are very sharp teams, all three are dangerous, and all three are multi-pronged in terms of their offensive capability. Oh, and all three are legitimate favorites to win this year’s regional crown.

In terms of pedigree, Lee stands at the top of the heap. The Pandas have played in two straight Eastern Maine finals and have four starters back from last season’s runnerup squad.

Throw in a deep and talented bench and you can understand why expectations are high once again for the Pandas.

The Pandas are led by all-star athlete Shelby Pickering, who led her soccer team to its first regional and state crown last fall after two straight regional runner-up seasons. Yes, that could be considered a good omen for Pandas fans.

The Pandas have had to fight through some adversity this season. Coach Carrie Goodhue resigned two weeks before the end of the regular season. Athletic director and interim coach Randy Harris, who also coaches the boys team, says the team is weathering the transition.

“It’s a strange situation for me. I’ve never coached girls basketball before, but I have coached girls soccer,” Harris said. “It’s not the situation I want to be in, but I’m dealing with it and I think the girls are too.”

The junior guard-forward is joined by fellow starters junior guard Michaela Ham, senior forward Kristin Hersom, senior point guard Ashlee Gifford, and senior forward Samantha Cole.

The veteran leaders won’t be allowing the Pandas’ focus to blur.

“We hope not. I like to think the system in place will allow things to take care of themselves,” Harris said. “I haven’t done much more than stress what was already put in place.”

Senior guard Abbie Maxwell, who missed last season, but played as a freshman and sophomore, is back in fine form and sophomore twins Marci Moors and Jackie Moors make the Pandas even deeper than last year’s club.

“Lee Academy, first of all, on any given night has four or five great athletes who can all score and they have a lot of experience, even with their non-starters,” said SAHS coach Jon Porter, who is more than happy to deflect “favored” status away from his team.

Porter can try, but when your team finishes the regular season 17-0 and earns the No. 1 seeding, that’s virtually impossible.

“We have only one senior, so am I surprised with the way we’ve played?,” Porter said. “Well, we have a lot of depth, but I figured more like 15-2 or 14-3 because it’s tough to win on the road up here.”

Porter regularly goes eight or nine deep into his rotation of players, beginning with a starting five of senior guard Olivia McGary, junior guards Makenzie Hardy and Mindy Watson, sophomore forward Audrey Charette and freshman forward-center Shana Martin. The rest of the rotation includes freshman point guard Kaylea Collier, sophomore guard Carmen McLaughlin, sophomore guard-forward Amanda Clark and freshman forward Kristinn Watson.

The Warriors’ strengths are similar to Lee’s: depth, scoring ability, and athleticism.

“We have so many people who can step up for us,” Porter said. “We’ve had triangle-and-two defenses and box-and-1’s and they don’t work because we have too many people who can score.”

The Hodgdon Hawks look like a good bet to be the No. 2 seed, despite getting swept by Porter’s Warriors.

“We lost to Southern Aroostook fairly handily both times, but I wouldn’t mind a rematch with them because I think my girls are motivated and they didn’t feel the played their best the last two times,” said second-year coach Wendy Ivey. “I think it’s coming up pretty much the way I expected at the start.

“I’m pretty happy with where we stand right now, but I think even though we lost some games we shouldn’t have, they were good learning experiences.”

The Hawks are led by leading scorers Amanda Fitzpatrick and Erin Foster, both seniors. Sophomore forward Tasha Dwyer, senior swingman Amanda Sloat and cousin Collette Sloat, a junior point guard, make up the starting five.

Key players off the bench are senior guards Danielle Fitzpatrick and Samantha Williams, and junior guard Andrea Blanchette.

“I think we have a strong inside game, but even if that’s not on, we have girls who can step up and shoot it in the basket from the perimeter,” Ivey said. “We’re a more mature team too.”

Looking for some other less-heralded teams who could surprise. You’re not the only one.

“I think this tournament could go anywhere,” said Ivey, who played for an East runnerup squad at Hodgdon. “I want to say Katahdin is a scary team to me right now. They match up with us pretty well. We won twice against them, but not by a lot.”

“Shead’s playing better now that Samantha Davis is healthy,” said Porter, referring to the East Machias star guard beset by back trouble earlier this season.

In short, anyone can spring an upset. Still, as solid as some of the teams lurking just below the top three (Ashland, Fort Fairfield, Lubec?) may be, it looks like they may be biting off more than they can chew when it comes to topping the Eastern Maine Class D tournament trident.