Of gold balls and golden memories Top girls squads made history on Auditorium hardwood

loading...

Editor’s Note: With the Eastern Maine Class A tournament moving to the Augusta Civic Center next season, the BDN looks back on some of the top Eastern Maine high school basketball teams and players to play at the Bangor Auditorium.

Part I, Girls Teams

Twenty-five years ago, a team from Old Town High School became the first girls basketball squad to win an Eastern Maine Class A championship playing all three rounds at the Bangor Auditorium.

Monday night, Cony of Augusta’s girls became the last.

In between, teams from schools as far apart as Presque Isle, Bangor, Caribou, Stearns of Millinocket, Waterville, Lawrence of Fairfield, Mt. Blue of Farmington and Nokomis of Newport have all played on the floor at the Auditorium and won the coveted Eastern Maine Class A titles.

Some have even gone on to win state championships, as this year’s Cony team has a chance to do Saturday night.

With help from current and former coaches and basketball observers, here are 10 of the greatest Eastern Maine Class A girls teams to play in the tournament at the Bangor Auditorium. The teams start from 1976, which was the first year at least two rounds of the regional tourney were played at the “Old Barn” on Dutton Street.

Hampden, 1976

One year after a strong Gardiner team won the first Maine Principals’ Association-sanctioned girls championship at Husson College in Bangor, coach Don Veneziano’s team came up with the first regional title at the Auditorium. Coaches still remember standout players like Cindy Rand, Kim Martin, Katrina Verrill, Barbie Leighton and Tammie Tweedie – and the Broncos’ 1-3-1 zone defense.

No. 3 Hampden opened its tourney run with 20 points from Tweedie in a 53-46 quarterfinal win over No. 6 Nokomis.

Leighton and Rand each scored 12 points for Hampden in a 45-31 semifinal win over No. 7 Old Town and Martin chipped in with 11 points and 16 rebounds. Those three standouts again paced Hampden in a 55-42 win over No. 1 Fort Kent in the final.

Freshman Grace Baker scored the winning basket with one second left in a 66-65 overtime victory over Mt. Blue in the state final at the Auditorium. Rand poured in 28 points.

Old Town, 1980

Coach Jack Tourtillotte’s Indians eventually fell in the state championship game to a Westbrook squad featuring schoolgirl legend Lisa Blais, but the No. 1 Indians had a strong run through the regional tourney after a 17-1 regular season.

The stars of the 1980 team included senior forward Diane Perkins, junior guard Julie Dufour and sophomore forward Lauree Gott.

Dufour sank two free throws in the final minute to give Old Town a 51-50 win over No. 8 Brewer in the quarterfinals. Perkins contributed 19 points and seven rebounds in that game, and went on to score 25 points in a 58-31 win over No. 4 Presque Isle in the semis. Dufour and Gott added 13 and 12 points, respectively.

Perkins had another fine game in Old Town’s 64-50 EM final win over Gardiner. She scored 22 points and grabbed 15 rebounds while Dufour had 16 points and nine rebounds.

Even though Westbrook went on to win the state title 88-66 at the Augusta Civic Center, Old Town scored more points than any team had on the Blue Blazes all year, and Perkins finished with 32 points.

Bangor, 1982

Bangor went into the tournament with a questionable star in Cheryl Rich, who was dealing with a double stress fracture and missed the last two games of the regular season.

But coach Joan Sawyer’s Rams were 16-0 heading into the postseason, and Rich was able to play well enough to help lead Bangor to its first regional title since 1977. Rich combined with guard Laura Thibodeau and forward Leslie Boyle for EM and state titles.

The inside-outside combination of Thibodeau and Rich led to a 61-44 semifinal win over No. 5 Presque Isle. Thibodeau led the Rams with 16 points while Boyle and Rich combined for 25 points and 20 rebounds.

Bangor held off No. 3 Old Town 61-49 in the regional final, again thanks to Thibodeau, Rich and Boyle, who combined for 50 points.

The Rams capped their run with a state championship, beating South Portland 56-44 at the Cumberland County Civic Center. This time Barbie Cyr was the high scorer with 13 points, followed by 12 from Rich. It was the first Bangor High state basketball title for both boys and girls since 1959.

Caribou, 1984

Although the Vikings weren’t able to defend their 1983 state title – Caribou ran into a tough Portland squad in a rematch of the previous year’s state final – they still had another strong run through the tournament powered by 6-2 senior center Missy Belanger.

Coach Roland Duprey’s third-ranked Vikings started out with a stellar defensive effort in a 73-31 quarterfinal win over No. 6 Winslow (forward Emily Kirkpatrick had 14 points for Caribou) and then had tougher semifinal matchup with a 76-70 win over the Indians. Belanger had a stellar semifinal with 34 points and 19 rebounds.

Caribou pounded No. 5 Waterville 80-43 in the EM final thanks to in part to junior guards Jennifer Wyman and Kelly Pelletier, who helped with Caribou’s half-court trap defense. Belanger again led the Vikings with 18 points, while Wyman had 17 and Kirkpatrick added 15.

Portland avenged its 1983 state final loss with an 85-64 win at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland. The Bulldogs played a 1-3-1 zone defense to shut down Belanger, who scored 15 points. But the Vikings did make some history – they were the first Eastern Maine Class A team to win back-to-back regional titles. And Caribou set what was then a record for most points in a tournament with 229.

Cony, 1989

No one has coached an Eastern Maine Class A team to more regional titles than Paul Vachon. The 1989 team was one of his favorites because it was the Rams’ third title in a row and it came with sister guards Marcie and Meaghan Lane and senior centers Becky Demos and Rebecca Morang at their zenith. Cony went on to edge Portland 59-57 in the state final.

Cony beat No. 8 Mt. Blue 82-38 in the quarterfinals, with the Lane sisters helping to force 28 Mt. Blue turnovers and combining on 13 steals. Demos had 27 points and 12 rebounds and had another 14 points in the 66-52 semifinal win over No. 4 Brewer.

Marcie Lane was the star in the 64-47 EM final win over No. 2 Presque Isle, pouring in 31 points while Morang scored 12 points and Demos had 12 rebounds. Meaghan Lane led Cony in the state final thanks to her 15 points and 11 rebounds. Demos and Morang combined to score 29 points.

Lawrence, 1991

Maybe the reason this team stands out was a freshman guard named Cindy Blodgett.

Or maybe it was the play of senior guard Dawn Anne Higgins, whose record for most 3-pointers in a game (7) still stands. Taffy Witham and senior center Airami Bogle were the other standouts on this Bruce Cooper-coached team that was the start of a four-year dynasty.

Higgins scored 29 points – including those seven 3-pointers – followed by Blodgett’s 24, as the No. 1 Bulldogs beat No. 8 Skowhegan 78-56 in the quarterfinals. The two did it again in the semis in a 63-41 win over No. 5 Old Town. Blodgett led Lawrence with 22 points and Higgins added 19.

Blodgett scored 23 points in the 66-53 regional final over No. 2 Stearns of Millinocket, but foul trouble meant the Bulldogs needed players like Witham, who scored 15 points, and Bogle, who had 13 rebounds.

Portland traveled to Bangor to take on Lawrence in the state game, but Blodgett scored 25 points, Higgins had 22, Witham had 14 and Lawrence had the first of its four titles.

Lawrence, 1993

Two years after the breakthrough 1991 season, the Bulldogs were at it again with Blodgett at the helm for her junior season and third straight EM and state titles. This time the fine cast included junior guards Wendy Atwood and Jill Atwood and senior forward Danielle Batey.

Blodgett opened the tourney with a record 38 points, tying a mark set by Meaghan Lane in 1990, in an 87-63 quarterfinal win over No. 9 Caribou. She poured in 31 points in a semifinal against No. 4 Stearns of Millinocket, a 61-50 win for the ‘Dogs.

Wendy Atwood and Blodgett combined to score 50 of Lawrence’s 55 points in a regional final win over No. 3 Winslow. Blodgett saved her best for the 68-66 state championship win over Westbrook at the Bangor Auditorium, scoring a tourney-record 40 points and setting another record with 16-for-24 shooting from the floor. Atwood added 14 points.

Lawrence, 1994

By now a bona fide star, Blodgett set five postseason records that still stand, including her 123 points in the regional tourney. The 47 points she scored in a highly anticipated Eastern Maine final against No. 1 Cony were also a record.

Senior sisters and guards Wendy and Jill Atwood complemented Blodgett again this year. The Atwoods combined for 29 points while Blodgett had 37 in an 83-50 quarterfinal win over No. 7 Hampden.

Jill Atwood scored 10 points for Lawrence in a 75-43 semifinal victory over No. 3 Nokomis. Blodgett had 39 points despite leaving the game with a cut over her eye.

The Auditorium was packed for the Eastern Maine final showdown between Lawrence and Cony. Blodgett responded with her big scoring night, including six straight free throws in the last 46 seconds to ice the game. Atwood added 15 points.

Portland didn’t have any luck this year, either. Blodgett scored 32 points at the Cumberland County Civic Center and Lawrence rallied thanks to 10 points from forward Karen Weymouth. Lawrence eked a 56-53 win, Blodgett finished her career with 2,533 points, and the Bulldogs had their fourth straight state win.

Cony, 1995

Coach Paul Vachon’s undefeated Rams finally broke through again this year. This time around, the stars included Vachon’s daughter, guard Amy Vachon, along with guard Mary Beth Coughlin and forwards Erica Pridham, Raegan Larochelle and Christine Huber.

The Rams got the tourney started with a 58-45 quarterfinal win over No. 8 Brewer thanks to Amy Vachon’s 26 points and Huber’s 10. Pridham keyed Cony’s 65-34 semifinal win over No. 5 Caribou 65-34, scoring 26 points and adding eight rebounds. Huber had 14 points.

Vachon scored 35 points in the final win – including the 1,000th point of her career – and Huber had 16 points in Cony’s 72-42 win over No. 3 Nokomis. One week later Vachon and Coughlin hooked up for a 66-55 win over Westbrook in the state championship game at the Auditorium.

The Rams would go on to win regional and state titles in 1996 and 1998, and have a chance to win another state crown this Saturday when they face McAuley of Portland in the Auditorium’s final Class A state championship game.

Nokomis, 2001

Because of their youth and another strong Cony team that was standing in the way, the Warriors had to be one of the biggest surprises in tourney history even though they went 18-0 in the regular season. But Nokomis went on to win the school’s first regional and state basketball titles.

Earl Anderson’s Warriors had established themselves in the 1999 tournament with an upset victory over Cony in the quarterfinals. Two years later the No. 2 Warriors beat No. 7 Lawrence of Fairfield 48-30 in the quarterfinals and No. 6 Messalonskee of Oakland 38-29 in the semis. The cast included sophomores Danielle Clark, Michelle Murray, Lindsey Welch and Sara Lowe, and senior Laura Pelkey.

Clark poured in 26 points in the 55-43 win over Cony and established a new tournament record with her 27-for-32 (84.3 percent) effort from the free-throw line over the course of three games.

Nokomis went on to beat a McAuley team 53-43 for the state title. Clark scored 18 points as the Warriors held off the Lions.

Thursday: Boys Teams