Rollins sees bright future for Cony girls

Although there were some pressing matters on her mind – like when and if she would come back in Saturday’s Class A girls state championship basketball game – Cony of Augusta senior Katie Rollins couldn’t help but think about the future while sitting on the bench in the first half.

The Rams would eventually cruise to a 58-40 victory over McAuley of Portland, but Cony needed sophomore forward Cassie Cooper and freshman forward Rachael Mack to have strong games. Cooper and Mack more than held their own for the Rams while Rollins was out.

Cooper started the game and Mack came off the bench, as she did all tourney.

Mack, who had three points and seven rebounds, wasn’t expecting to get so much playing time, but Cony needed her with Rollins out for nearly 13 minutes of the first half.

“It was crazy that Katie had two fouls in the first quarter, and all of the sudden I was in there,” said Mack, who was an all-tourney honorable mention. “The whole team had to step it up.”

Meanwhile, Cooper was called for her third foul early in the third quarter, so Mack went back in.

“It might have helped us a lot with our confidence for next year,” said Rollins, the tourney MVP and a Miss Basketball finalist. “Rachael Mack came off the bench and played great, held her own against [McAuley forward] Ashley Cimino, who I would consider one of the best post players in the state, and I think that shows that Cony’s still going to be a threatening program.”

Meanwhile, Saturday’s game was the end of an era of sorts as the last girl in a Cony family played in her final game for the Rams.

Senior Natalie Nimon is the last in a line of other former Cony players that include her sister, Eliza Nimon, and stepsisters Tracey Frye and Lindsey Frye. he Nimons’ father married the Frye girls’ mother.

“They all came through and they were all great kids and this is the last of them,” Cony coach Paul Vachon said before the game last week. “It’s gonna be sad on Saturday night.”

Eliza Nimon and Tracey Frye were seniors on the 1998 team that beat Westbrook for the state title and Lindsey Frye graduated in 2002 after winning an Eastern Maine title in her senior year.

Two other Nimon sisters also played but didn’t stick with the team into their senior years.

Natalie Nimon, who contributed eight points, five rebounds and four assists, was about 10 years old when she watched her sister and stepsister win the gold ball at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland.

“It is sad,” she said Saturday after the game. “I’ve been talking to all the coaches about it. They’re like, we don’t know what we’re going to do, we’ve had you and your sisters for 11 years and you’re the last one.”

Keenan represents County

While Saturday’s state finals were the last Class A games that will be played at the Bangor Auditorium, another long run will end next year.

Frank Keenan, the chairman of the Maine Principals’ Association’s Eastern Maine Class A basketball committee, will serve out the final year of his two-term, six-year run as the chairman. The Easton School Department superintendent, Keenan will be the final committee member representing an Aroostook County school.

With high schools like Presque Isle, Caribou, Fort Kent, and Houlton all in Class A in the last 25 years, there was need for representation from Aroostook County. But now, the northernmost Class A school is Old Town.

“I can’t see that we’ll have another [Eastern Maine Class A] committee member from north of Old Town,” MPA executive director Dick Durost said.

But with the population shifting south, the MPA voted last November to move the Class A tourney from Bangor to the Augusta Civic Center.

“The demographics have changed so completely and that’s the sad part,” said Keenan, a Mars Hill native who played, coached, refereed, watched his children play, and escorted high school teams to the Bangor Auditorium over the years.

“It’s something that had to happen because of who the teams are that are left,” he added. “The Bangor Auditorium means an awful lot to people in Aroostook County because there are some nice memories. There are some disappointments, too, but you wouldn’t trade any of it.”

The rest of the committee members gives an indication of the new demographics in Eastern Maine Class A – Brunswick athletic director Rick Crawford, Edward Little of Auburn assistant principal Steve Galway, and Brewer vice principal Dan O’Connell.

Keenan was the principal at Presque Isle High when he gained the chairmanship and was allowed to keep that position even though he had moved to a superintendent’s post with a Class D high school and was even voted to a second term.

“The committee felt strongly enough and had enough confidence in him to have him continue,” said Durost, who serves as the MPA liaison to the committee.

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600 or jbloch@bangordailynews.net.