Three weeks into his fifth season as head coach of the Eastern Maine Community College men’s basketball team, Ray Alley had to face reality.

As the full-time owner of an industrial and residential contracting company (All American Painting) and the father of four daughters, there just weren’t enough hours in the day.

“We have upwards of a 30-game schedule and earlier this season, it just got to be too much and my wife and I made a decision,” Alley explained. “Instead of blowing a whistle tonight, I’m cooking supper and that’s more important.”

The former Vinalhaven High School hoops star is married to Stearns High School basketball star Kristi Wildman, who works out of her home for State Farm Insurance. Both Alley and Wildman are members of Husson College’s Sports Hall of Fame.

The Alleys have four daughters: Raychel (age 9), Emma (6), Katherine (4), and Alysin (1).

EMMC athletic director Jeff Harris said he has received five resumes and applications from prospective coaches and hopes to hire Alley’s replacement by next week. In the meantime, EMMC second-year women’s coach Jim Carter will handle the men’s practices and coach the team in the Unity Tip-Off Invitational tournament this weekend.

“There’s quite a bit of turnover with this program, but – one through 12 – this could be the best team I’ve had,” Alley said. “It’s a good situation for a coach to step into.”

The 1995 Husson grad said he’ll definitely get back into coaching at some point, even if it’s at the youth level.

Small schools tipping off

Unity College will host its 21st Tip-Off Invitational basketball tournament Friday and Saturday.

The format for the two-day tourney has changed a bit, going from an elimination to a round robin style format involving Unity, Eastern Maine Community College, Northern Maine Community College and Vermont Technical College – all members of the Yankee Small College Conference.

All of these tournament games will be conference and regular-season games for the participating teams.

First-year Unity head coach Josh Hunt has several names of note to local hoops fans on his roster with players such as sophomore point guard and captain Ben Giroux of Brunswick, sophomore forward Bruce Currie from Hodgdon, freshman center Nate Williams of Gardiner, and freshman guard Seth Kinsella, a Messalonskee High graduate and Belgrade native.

This is Hunt’s first head basketball coaching job after five seasons as an assistant women’s coach at UMaine-Augusta, UMaine-Farmington, and Thomas College.

The tourney will tip off Friday at 6 p.m. when Unity faces EMCC. The 8 p.m. game matches Vermont Tech against NMCC. Saturday’s games are EMCC vs. NMCC at noon and Vermont Tech vs. Unity at 2 p.m.

Snyder makes U.S. Open cut

Bangor High graduate Lindsey Snyder has had another successful start to the season as a sophomore on the Central Connecticut State swim team.

Snyder broke a pool and school record in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2 minutes, 3.43 seconds during a meet Saturday.

Her time was also under the cut time for the U.S. Open, which will be held Dec. 1-3 in Auburn, Ala.

Swimming the leadoff leg of the 400-yard medley relay, Snyder set a school record in the 100 backstroke with a time of 58.65 seconds. She also finished second in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:57.11.

Snyder, a Winterport resident, was the Co-Rookie of the Meet at last year’s Northeast Conference championships.

Bowdoin, USM ranked Nos. 3-4

The women’s basketball teams from Bowdoin College and the University of Southern Maine, which officially began practicing Tuesday, have been ranked Nos. 3 and 4 in the nation, respectively, in the D3Hoops.com preseason poll.

Coach Stefanie Pemper’s Polar Bears are coming off a 26-3 season during which they reached the “Elite Eight” for the fourth consecutive season. That is the longest such streak in Division III.

Bowdoin has won five straight New England Small College Athletic Conference championships. It also boasts a 55-game home winning streak, which is the longest such streak in all of NCAA basketball.

Lauren Withey of Rockport, who played at Camden Hills High School, is one of the Maine products playing for the Polar Bears.

The Huskies of Gary Fifield return five starters off the squad that went 31-3 and advanced to the Final Four.

Southern Maine, which was ranked No. 1 recently by the Women’s DIII News, has won an NCAA Division III-record 20 or more games each of the last 25 seasons.

The Huskies’ roster includes 2005 Little East Conference Player of the Year Ashley Marble of Topsfield, a former Woodland High School star, along with former Calais High standout Katie Frost. Donna Cowing of Weeks Mills (Erskine Academy) and Katie Sibley of Boothbay also are key members of the ballclub.

If either USM or Bowdoin can advance to the Division III Final Four, it would have the opportunity to play fairly close to home. This year’s Final Four will be played March 17-18 at Springfield College in Massachusetts.