Camden Hills forward Marianne Croce’s competitive basketball career is over, and the Windjammers have spent the past couple of weeks learning to play without the four-year varsity standout.

Croce, a KVAC Class B all-star and Eastern Maine Class B all-tourney honorable mention, tore both the anterior cruciate ligament and the medial cruciate ligament in her right knee during the first quarter of a Jan. 3 game against Medomak Valley of Waldoboro.

“I was jump-stopping and when I hit the groundI heard a pop,” she said. “The minute I hit the ground [a ligament injury] was the first thing that crossed my mind because it happens to so many girls.”

And it’s happened to the Camden Hills girls over the years. The Windjammers have had four players – Lauren Withey, Neslie Orhon, Carmen Forzetting and now Croce – suffer knee injuries since 2001.

Her season now over, Croce is due for surgery early next month.

Although the Windjammers miss Croce, they’ve won five straight games and are 12-0 after Friday’s 61-36 win over Mount View of Thorndike. Camden Hills is at Maranacook of Readfield tonight.

“It’s coming a little bit better but without Marianne we’re different,” said junior guard Kayla Gushee. “She’s such a good defensive player and we miss her offense.”

Although she had some interest from small college basketball programs, Croce doesn’t plan to play in college. She is going to the University of Connecticut next year, so she’ll have plenty of opportunities to watch the perennial powerhouse Huskies – and maybe play intramural basketball.

Croce’s sister, former Camden Hills tennis and basketball standout Charlotte Croce, is a student at UConn.

Shiretowners earn title

The Houlton cheerleading team won its ninth Aroostook League Cheering Championship, scoring 124.6 points in the second round of Friday’s competition at Caribou High.

Fort Fairfield tallied 118.2 points to take second place and Caribou was third with 114.7.

Presque Isle finished fourth (100.1) and Central Aroostook of Mars Hill was fifth (99.5).

The Shiretowners, who are coached by Mary Jane Cleary and Julie Dunn-Brown, also took top honors for team motions, team dance, team stunts, team jumps and team tumbling based on the judges’ scores from the first round.

Houlton won the Penobscot Valley Conference Classes C-D competition on Jan. 7.

The Aroostook League all-star honors, which were voted on by the coaches, went to Allen Cote of Fort Fairfield and Beth Michaud of Presque Isle (jumps), Josh Barnes of Fort Fairfield and Tina Tardiff of Central Aroostook (tumbling) and to the Houlton team for its stunts.

Central Aroostook won the spirit award.

Bergeron strong for Old Town

The Old Town girls basketball team might be struggling this year in the new schedule with the bigger schools from the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference, but Katie Bergeron is still finding ways to score.

Based on the most recent statistics from KVAC North conference games, the Old Town senior guard is averaging 14.1 points and 4.1 assists per game. Both numbers are second in the division.

Old Town’s most recent loss came against Brewer, a 59-47 defeat. Still, Bergeron scored a game-high 23 points.

“She’s been doing a little bit of everything for us, distributing the ball, taking it to the hole, we have some plays drawn up to get her shots,” coach Justin Page said. “And often times she does it while being marked or double-teamed. She’s the kid teams try to stop when they play us.”

Although Bergeron has drawn some interest from smaller New England schools such as Amherst, Trinity and Vassar, she’s planning to take a different route. Bergeron wants to try a year of prep school instead – a rarity for Maine schoolgirls.

She applied to a number of schools, most of them out of state. Her top four choices are in Connecticut.

“Hopefully a fifth year will help getting attention,” Bergeron said. “I didn’t really look into Maine schools. I wanted to leave as if I was going away to college. I really like Connecticut. There are some colleges there that I like.”

Page thinks a year of prep school is a good move.

“She’s had a lot of Division III interest and she’s trying to make herself more marketable,” he said. “I think it’s a good choice, coming from the northernmost Class A team. Her academics are excellent and I think this will only help her.”

Bergeron’s other stats look strong, too. At 5-foot-6 she’s averaging 6.4 rebounds per game and converts 69 percent of her free-throw attempts.

Old Town is scoring enough points – the girls are averaging 43.8 points per game – thanks to Bergeron, center Jenny Jones and guard Jenna King. The latter two players are both averaging about 8 ppg.

“Sometimes I’m double-teamed but we have a lot of players I can kick out to,” Bergeron said. “So [the opposition has] to focus on them or me. We balance out well. We have really good shooters.”

Defense is where Old Town has faltered, giving up a division-high 60.4 ppg.

“I think [height] is the major problem,” Bergeron said. “When we played Mt. Blue they have a girl who’s like 6-3. Even with our arms up she can still see over us.”

That girl is Mt. Blue of Farmington’s Christina Mosher, who leads the KVAC North with 15.9 ppg. Mosher’s teammate Amanda Laney is averaging 4.3 apg.

Cote, Hynes heading to Bowdoin

When Dexter’s Sabrina Cote took an overnight trip to Bowdoin College in Brunswick, she had a enjoyable time with her hostess, Alexa Kaubris.

That’s right – Cote spent a pleasant overnight with freshman guard Kaubris, the former Dirigo of Dixfield star now playing for the Polar Bears, whom Cote guarded for three years in Class C state title games.

Kaubris and the Cougars got the best of Cote and the Tigers for two of those three years, but Cote found Kaubris and the rest of the Bowdoin team to be welcoming. It was one of the things that convinced Cote she wanted to play for Bowdoin next year.

“She’s so nice. We have so much in common,” Cote said of Kaubris and the overnight in Brunswick. “It was awesome. Everything about us is the same, despite the rivalry.”

Cote was accepted early decision, as was Rockland’s Caitlin Hynes, a standout center for the Tigers.

Both will play for coach Stefanie Pemper’s Bears.

“I like coach Pemper a lot,” Cote said. “And I looked at [Bowdoin] extensively because of the academics.”

The state Wendy’s High School Heisman winner, Cote is also an all-star soccer player, plays softball and competes in outdoor track and field. She was an Eastern Maine Class C all-tourney team member and played on Dexter’s 2004 state championship team, in addition to playing on the 2003 and 2005 EM Class C championship squads.

Hynes’ basketball honors include All-Maine honorable mention, Eastern Maine Class B all-tourney and Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference all-star. She is also standout field hockey and softball player.

Cote is excited to join Kaubris and Hynes, along with sophomore Marisa Berne, who played at McAuley of Portland, and assistant coach Julie Veilleux, a former Cony of Augusta star.

“That will be really cool,” she said. “Maine girls!”

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