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The Washington Academy girls basketball team may be undefeated right now – in fact, the Raiders are the only undefeated team remaining in Eastern Maine Class C – but first-year coach Gary Wood knows that may not last.
Not with WA’s schedule in the next week, anyway.
“It would be nice for the girls, and I know we’re capable of doing it, but it might not be possible,” Wood said.
The 8-0 Raiders travel to Calais Tuesday and to Woodland Thursday, then host Lee Academy Saturday in the first meeting between the two schools this season.
That’s a game against a perennial powerhouse Class C program, another against the defending Class D state champion, and a third against a team considered to be among the best in the state even though the Pandas are in Class D.
Washington Academy will bring Saturday’s 60-47 win over Downeast Athletic Conference rival Narraguagus of Harrington into this week’s games. It should be a nice boost for the Raiders, who handed the Knights their third loss.
“It was a good win for us,” Wood said. “Narraguagus is very tough. They’re going to win a lot of games this year.”
As they have all season, center Ashley Tilton, forward Megan Look and point guard Kayla Wood, Gary Wood’s daughter, once again led WA Saturday in all the important statistical categories. Tilton had 23 points and 10 rebounds, Look added 15 points and Wood handed out seven assists.
But as teams have learned to key on the tough inside tandem of Tilton and Look, other players have increased their scoring.
Tilton and Look are averaging 16 and 10 points per game, respectively, while Kayla Wood is scoring at a 10-ppg clip, followed by senior guard Lauren Finn (5 ppg), freshman forward Andi Flannery (4 ppg) and junior backup guard Carilla Fritz (5 ppg).
“We’ve been more balanced, which is something we set out to do this year,” Gary Wood said. “Last year [the team] really relied on Tilton for most of the scoring. The other girls have started to take the pressure off of her.”
The Raiders are post-oriented, but Wood said they get a lot of baskets off their transition game because of their team speed.
Tilton and Look share the rebounding duties, combining for 14.5 rpg, while Kayla Wood contributes 2.8 rpg and 3.3 assists per game.
Other than balanced scoring and a tough inside duo, Washington Academy has won games with good half-court, man-to-man defense. But Gary Wood knows the Raiders may have to try some different looks to make it through the next week.
“We’ll see what happens,” he said. “Hopefully we can keep things rolling.”
Panthers charging in streak
When the Central Aroostook girls basketball team checks the Eastern Maine Class D Heal Point standings to be released Tuesday, the Panthers should find themselves a few places higher than they were last week.
That’s because CAHS has won seven straight, including two games against Ashland and Washburn, after dropping its first three games of the season.
The Panthers, now 7-3, were No. 6 in last week’s standings. Washburn was No. 1 and Ashland was No. 4. Central Aroostook beat the Beavers 39-18 on Jan. 4 and the Hornets 88-60 on Jan. 2, with a 51-13 victory over Easton in between.
CAHS coach Rodney Codrey is pleased with the improvement, but cautiously so, especially going on the road Wednesday against an improved Madawaska team.
“It’s not where we are now, but where we finish up,” he said. “We still have eight games to go. I don’t want them to be peaking right now.”
A few things have come together lately to contribute to the streak, according to Codrey. Junior point guard Amber Bradley has started to get more comfortable handling the ball against the pressure defense the Panthers face most nights in the Aroostook League.
Bradley is in her first season playing varsity, Codrey said, and it took some time for her to get adjusted.
“Everybody up here presses,” Codrey said. “Amber’s been doing well. We’ve just kept practicing what I want her to do and how I want her to bring the ball up. … Amber’s quite fast, probably the fastest player on the team. She just needs to relax and take care of the ball.”
Central Aroostook 6-footer Sarah Long has been inbounding the ball to Bradley, which helps get the offense started. In fact, the Panthers have two other players around 6 feet tall in Kayla Day and Alex Dane to help work the ball down the floor. Kalyn Devoe, the only senior on the team, is a guard.
The Panthers have also been holding teams to an average of 21 points per game during the streak.
They allowed just 18 against Washburn, which was even more impressive considering Central Aroostook didn’t have time to prepare for the Beavers in practice due to back-to-back-to-back games.
“The defense been a big key for us,” Codrey said.
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