Moors presence in lineup was key in getting Pandas to final

As is tradition after regional and state championship basketball games, several members of the Lee girls basketball team climbed ladders up to the hoops at the Bangor Auditorium Saturday morning to cut down the nets in honor of their Eastern Maine Class D title win over Ashland.

Before the game ended Lee forward Jackie Moors knew she wouldn’t be one of those climbing the ladders. But Moors was surprised and honored when senior forward Shelby Pickering invited her up anyway.

A few days after the regional title victory that put Lee into tonight’s Class D state final against Western Maine champion Hyde of Bath, Moors retold the story, framing it as an example of Pickering’s character.

But for Pickering and the rest of the Pandas, it likely seemed only right to have Moors help cut down the nets. It’s been a tough season for the junior – she quit the team in December when it became clear she would have to sit on the bench in favor of freshman starters and substitutes – but Moors provided a huge spark off the bench for Lee in the tournament, especially in the Eastern Maine final.

Moors occasionally started and played key minutes off the bench in both her freshman and sophomore years, but when Weatherbee put three freshmen into the starting lineup and made another the team’s sixth-man, Moors was upset. She and her twin sister, Marci, decided to leave the team.

“My goal when I started playing was to become a leader and I had hoped that I would eventually be able to do that,” Jackie Moors said. “But I got really discouraged and quit.”

After a week, Moors felt she missed playing, had some conversations with coach Ron Weatherbee, and went back.

“I held my head up, went back and worked hard,” she said. “I didn’t think I was going to start, but I worked hard anyway.”

Moors missed four games after returning to the team but has played a big role for the team ever since. She got more playing time than she imagined during the tournament, she said, and the Pandas needed her early in the Eastern Maine final.

With freshman substitute Dana Houghton in foul trouble in the first quarter, Moors came off the bench for two points, five rebounds and an assist against Ashland.

She had seven points in the semifinals against Greenville and four in the quarterfinals against Greater Houlton Christian. Moors figures she averaged about 6-7 points per game in the regular season – not bad for the seventh player off the bench and someone who looks at herself as more of a playmaker than a scorer.

The Pandas will be going for their first Class D state title. Lee lost to Rangeley in last year’s championship game.

The Eastern Maine winner didn’t have to worry about the Lakers this year, however. Rangeley, which was undefeated in the regular season – including a 66-38 victory over Hyde late in the regular season – was knocked out by Valley of Bingham in the WM semifinals.

Coach Betsy Olney’s Hyde squad went on to beat the Cavaliers 39-27 in the regional final, the first Western Maine title for the school. The Phoenix, now 12-9, started off the season at 1-5 and were seeded sixth for the postseason.

Lee’s big challenge will be finding a way to stop Hyde junior center Shinikwa James, who averaged 18.6 points per game in the Western Maine tournament and was named the tourney MVP. She poured in 27 in a 54-52 overtime win against No. 3 Gould Academy of Bethel in the quarterfinals.

Hyde beat Greater Portland Christian in the semis.

Senior point guard Sabriah Faustin is another key player for the Phoenix. She helped shut down Valley standout Kristin Baker in Hyde’s 1-3-1 zone defense. Faustin averaged 7.0 ppg in the tourney and Shayna Diaz added 6.3.

Moors likes Lee’s chances against a Hyde team that has never made it this far.

“We have a really good team,” she said. “Everyone’s playing really well.”