As the Winslow girls basketball team gathered near its locker room in the moments after winning the Eastern Maine Class B title, a Black Raider teammate paid Amanda Byrne the ultimate compliment.

“Best defensive player in the conference,” point guard Brittany Morin said.

“Stop it,” Byrne responded, an embarrassed smile on her face.

But Byrne couldn’t hide her skills on both sides of the ball during last week’s regional tournament. The senior guard shut down three of the top players in EM Class B, and went on to power the Raiders offensively to their first-ever basketball championship.

Those two-way skills helped Byrne win the 2005 Bangor Daily News Owen Osborne Most Valuable Player award for Class B, the first player from Winslow to receive the honor.

In Class C, Ashley Ames of Dexter became the second player to win the award three times while leading the undefeated Tigers to their third straight Eastern Maine title.

And in Class D, Lee Academy’s Shelby Pickering became the eighth girl to win her second MVP award as the Pandas claimed their second straight regional crown.

The MVP award was established in 1994 in memory of Osborne, a former NEWS sports editor and reporter. The award and all-tourney teams, which are listed below by classification, are selected by a vote of media, tourney officials and representatives of the Maine Principals’ Association.

There are 11 new members of the all-tourney team this year.

In Class B, Byrne joins other first-timers Ashley Carter of Winslow, Kelsey Stratton of Mount Desert Island and Caitlin Hynes of Rockland, while Maranacook’s Toby Martin is on the team for her third straight year.

Byrne and Carter are the first Black Raiders players to be on the all-tourney team since 1998, when current Winslow assistant coach Rachel Bard and Kristy Ferran were honored.

Byrne, a guard, blanketed Hermon’s Cassie White, Maranacook’s Martin, and MDI’s Stratton in Winslow’s man-to-man defense.

She averaged 11.3 points per game in Winslow’s well-rounded offense, including 18 points in the Eastern Maine final against MDI, and allowed just 9.3 ppg against the players she guarded.

Forward Carter had tough defensive assignments too, guarding dangerous players like MDI’s Emma Stanley and Hermon’s Shannon Wiggin. Carter averaged 8.3 ppg.

Stratton’s best game came in the semifinals, in which she poured in 22 points for the Trojans, including the game-winning 3-pointer. The forward averaged 12.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game

Martin, one of the top point guards in the state, scored 10 points in each of the Black Bears’ two tourney games. Five of her 10 points in the quarterfinal against Camden Hills came during a key fourth-quarter run to hold off the defending EM champion Windjammers.

Hynes was instrumental in Rockland’s upset victory over Presque Isle in the quarterfinal with 16 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and four blocks. An honorable mention in 2003, the center had eight points and nine rebounds in the semis.

In Class C, Ames proved yet again to be a dominating force en route to joining former Calais star Lanna Martin as the only three-time winner.

Ames is joined by teammate Sabrina Cote, who was also an all-tourney team member last year, as well as Emily Smith and Danielle O’Brien of Calais and Stearns of Millinocket’s Trisha MacDonald.

Ames, a 6-foot-4 senior forward, had the highest scoring average of any all-tourney player this year with her 23.6 ppg. She also grabbed 14.6 rpg to go with about five blocks per game.

Guard Cote was a key defensive player for the Tigers, guarding the opposition’s top players – she had Smith in the EM final – and also contributed 7.3 ppg.

O’Brien and Smith helped get the Blue Devils back to the regional final after a year’s absence.

O’Brien, a forward, averaged 10.6 ppg, 9.6 rpg and 3.3 bpg. She had a double-double in the semis with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Smith, a guard, led Calais with 12.3 ppg in addition to 6.3 assists per game and 5.6 steals per game.

Forward MacDonald helped the Minutemen put a scare into Dexter in the semis, and her 13 points in that game and 21 in the quarterfinal led Stearns.

In Class D, Pickering welcomes newcomers Aarika Ritchie of Lee, Ashley Nemer of Ashland, Southern Aroostook of Dyer Brook’s Mindy Watson and Greenville’s Beth Bartley to the all-tourney team.

Pickering averaged 20.3 ppg, second-highest of the 2005 all-tourney members, and an all-tourney high 16 rpg. She had a 27-point, 19-rebound effort in the EM final against Ashland. Pickering made 25 of her 49 field-goal attempts (51 percent).

Point guard Ritchie, one of Lee’s fabulous freshmen, averaged 10 ppg, including 15 points in the quarterfinal against Greater Houlton Christian.

Guard Nemer scored 12.6 ppg and pulled down 7.6 rpg for the young Hornets. She had a well-rounded game in the final against Lee, with 17 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

Watson, a guard, had 34 points and nine assists in two games while powering the Warriors’ offense to the semis.

Bartley, a junior forward, scored 30 points and tallied 18 rebounds in two games as the Lakers got to the semifinals. She had 19 points and 10 rebounds in the quarterfinals against Fort Fairfield.