ORONO – When the Orono and Mattanawcook Academy girls basketball teams matched up for a preseason game Saturday, it was a meeting of two squads going in different directions.

When both teams take the floor for Friday night’s openers, they’ll be starting the season in different classifications.

Mattanawcook is returning to Class B after 10 years as a Class C school, while Orono is doing the reverse – its enrollment puts it into Class C basketball for the first time after competing for the past 30 years in Class B.

Orono will make its season debut against Penobscot Valley of Howland Friday, while MA hosts Foxcroft Academy Friday as high school basketball, along with the rest of the winter sports athletic slate, can begin play Friday after 3 p.m.

While the Red Riots seem to know a bit of what to expect in Class C, Lynx coach Terri Thornton said she’s had to do some research, a process will likely continue all season.

“We haven’t played any of [the teams on their schedule] and all I have is what I have on paper,” she said after coaching MA to a 59-37 win over Orono in the preseason game. “We played a few [of them] in summer ball, so that gives me an idea, but we didn’t play that many teams. So we’re going to have to feel it as we go, I think.”

In preparation of what the Lynx will see from teams such as Presque Isle, Bucksport, John Bapst of Bangor (the Crusaders are also new to Class B this year), Ellsworth, and Hermon, the Mattanawcook team has focused on defense.

“We know they’re going to be taller and bigger, and we’re going to have to be quicker on defense this year,” said senior guard Quinci Sanderson. “We’ve really worked hard on defense this year and kind of let the offense come to us.”

Mattanawcook went 11-9 last year, falling in the quarterfinals to eventual Eastern Maine Class C champ Dexter.

Orono coach Tim Baude said Mattanawcook could have a successful year in the Big East Class B, especially with a few of last year’s tourney teams having graduated key starters.

“They pressure the ball real well, they’re quick, they have good jump shooters in that 15-foot range, so I thought they did a very nice job,” Baude said of MA after the preseason game.

Orono, meanwhile, has already done some scouting of its new opposition. The Red Riots will face teams such as Dexter, Central, Penquis of Milo, Sumner of East Sullivan, Searsport, and Piscataquis of Guilford.

“We played a few of them in summer league,” senior guard Emily Artesani said. “We’re just really looking forward to playing new teams.”

Orono went 5-13 last year and didn’t qualify for the tournament, but the Riots return three senior starters as well as a ton of speed. Several Orono players were members of the track and field team that placed third at Class C states last year.

The Riots haven’t made many adjustments to their game plan to accommodate the change in classification.

“It one of those things where we feel like we don’t have to do anything to change our team,” senior forward-center Emily Sypher said. “It should be the other way around.”

Coming from Class C, Thornton said Orono has a good chance to contend in the Penobscot Valley Conference. The Red Riots are tall and quick, a combination not many teams can boast of having.

“They have a lot of height and I think a lot of teams don’t have that. They’ll be right in the mix,” she said. “[Orono coach Tim Baude] is going to battle well with Stearns because he’s got the height to help. He’ll be right in there.”

The Red Riots are also hoping to build on the success they had in their first Class C soccer season. The Orono girls advanced to the semifinal round and finished the season with a 14-1-1 record.

Although there are some crossover games between Classes B and C, neither team will play Fort Kent, which also dropped from B to C. The Warriors went 12-7 and lost to Camden Hills in the Eastern Maine Class B prelims.