Valley gets help from boys Cavs to battle Woodland today

All season long, Valley girls basketball coach Gordon Hartwell has had some boys, either on the Valley varsity or past players come to his practices to work with the Cavaliers.

Hartwell is hoping that preparation will pay off Saturday as Western Maine champ Valley of Bingham meets Eastern Maine titleist Woodland Saturday to open a four-game day of state championships at the Augusta Civic Center.

The Cavaliers and the Dragons will play at 1:05 p.m. followed by the Class D boys state championship between Central Aroostook and Richmond at 3:05 p.m.

The Class C girls final between Dexter and Hall-Dale will start at 7:05, followed by the boys matchup between Calais and Winthrop at 9:05.

The undefeated Cavaliers got to the state final by virtue of a 39-31 victory over Rangeley in the Western Maine final. The Dragons beat Southern Aroostook 52-32 in the Eastern Maine final.

In facing Woodland, Valley will get its toughest test of height all season. The Dragons feature the play of 5-11 sophomore Courtney Cochran and 5-10 senior Michelle Ferry.

Ferry was named the Eastern Maine Class D MVP and Cochran was named to the all-tourney team.

Although the main job of defending the post will fall to 5-10 senior center Jeri-Dee Fitzmaurice, Hartwell needs all five starters to have their best game.

“We’re going to need everyone to have a stat line,” Hartwell said after an afternoon pep rally. “Everyone’s going to have to contribute.”

Although the Cavaliers haven’t faced a team with as much all-around height as Woodland has, Hartwell was pleased with how Valley has defended the taller players it’s faced. In the Western Maine semifinals Valley held Hyde of Bath’s 5-10 forward Eliza Skakel to eight points.

“She’s not as talented [as the Woodland players] but they did have that kind of height,” Hartwell said.

Fitzmaurice, who averaged 9.6 points per game in the tourney, scored 14 against Skakel.

Woodland has proven it matches up well with whatever size it faces. The Dragons beat a Southern Aroostook team with 10 forwards Shana Martin and Audrey Charette.

The key for Woodland may be sophomore point guard Rachel Torrey, who Hartwell expects to defend Valley guard Kristin Baker.

Baker, who will walk on at the University of Maine next year, poured in 82 points in three Western Maine tourney games to set a new WM Class D record. She was also named the tournament MVP.

“I hope so,” Hartwell said of the prospect of Torrey on Baker. “[Guarding Baker] will wear her out. And a lot of their offense runs through her.”

Although Baker was held to 15 points in the Western Maine final, well off her regular-season average of about 24 ppg, other Cavalier players were able to step into the scoring column.

Guard Morgan Staples scored 10 points and 5-9 forward Sandra Porter added eight points, all in the second half, and had 11 rebounds.

Guard Taylor Plourd round out the rest of the Valley lineup that started regular-season games, although either Plourd or Staples could serve a sixth-man role Saturday if Hartwell decides to start 5-7 forward Candy Ebneter.

Ebneter didn’t do much scoring in the WM tournament but could provide defense against the taller Dragons.