Barr is Maine’s Mr. Basketball Sanford’s Parker is Miss Basketball

BANGOR – Kayla Parker of Class A state champion Sanford High School and Bryant Barr of Falmouth were named recipients of the 19th annual Miss and Mr. Maine Basketball Awards during the Maine Association of Basketball Coaches awards dinner at Husson College on Friday night.

The banquet is held as part of the annual McDonald’s all-star weekend festivities.

The 26th annual Maine McDonald’s East-West Senior All-Star Games are scheduled for today. The girls A/B game kicks off the schedule at 9:15 a.m., followed by girls C/D at 10:45 a.m., boys A/B at 12:30 p.m., and boys C/D at 2 p.m.

Parker, a 6-foot forward, was named most valuable player of the Western Maine Class A tournament while leading the Redskins to their first-ever regional title. She topped that a week later by scoring 15 points in the state final, helping 21-1 Sanford to a 47-41 victory over Cony of Augusta and the program’s first gold ball.

A four-year varsity player, Parker averaged 16.3 points and 9.0 rebounds during her senior season while earning first-team All-Southern Maine Activities Association honors. She led coach Kristy Parent’s team in scoring, rebounds and blocked shots during each of her last two seasons with the Redskins.

Parker will continue her career at Division II Assumption College next winter.

“It’s an awesome feeling. I don’t know how to explain it,” said Parker, who was selected for the Miss Maine Basketball award from a field of finalists that included Katie Delong of Presque Isle and Samantha Allen of Lake Region of Naples.

“I thought there wasn’t any better way to end my senior season than to win a state championship, but this definitely tops it off.”

Barr emerged from a field of finalists for the Mr. Basketball Award that included Jordan Cook of Hampden Academy and Sean Costigan of Cheverus of Portland.

As a senior, the 6-5 guard led the Western Maine Conference in scoring with an average of 25.5 points per game to go with 6.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists per contest. He shot 82 percent from the free-throw line and set a school single-season record with 52 3-point goals.

Barr led coach Dave Halligan’s Yachtsmen to a 17-4 record and the Western Maine Class B championship game.

He finished his career as Falmouth’s all-time scoring leader with 1,462 points, and also made a school-record 170 3-point goals. He’ll be playing at Davidson College in the fall.

“I was happy to be a finalist for the award,” said Barr. “Sean Costigan and Jordan Cook are great basketball players, and there are a bunch of other great basketball players in our class. So just to be a finalist was a great accomplishment in my book.”

Among other awards presented during Friday night’s banquet, Thomas “Skip” Chappelle received the 2006 Bob Brown Contributor Award for his work on behalf of basketball in the state.

Chappelle, a 1957 Old Town High School graduate, is the only player in state history to earn All-New England first-team honors in the high school, prep school and collegiate ranks. He went on to serve as head men’s basketball coach at the University of Maine for 17 years and still holds the school record for most coaching victories (219).