Ames has made big strides Dexter senior looks to cap career with 3rd state title

DEXTER – Jody Grant was at a recent coaches meeting when the Dexter High girls basketball coach decided to put a scare into his peers. He would tell the rest of the coaches that 6-foot-6 senior center Mallory Ames was eligible for another year.

“[Central of Corinth coach Diane Rollins] says, I’m awful glad she’s a senior,” Grant said. “I said, as a matter of fact I was in the guidance office yesterday and I pulled up Mal’s transcriptions and she’s only a junior. They were all like, no way. I go, check the transcripts. Transcripts don’t lie.”

Grant was just kidding, of course, so the rest of the Eastern Maine Class C coaches can relax. Ames will play her final high school game Saturday night in the state title game against Mount Abram of Strong at the Bangor Auditorium.

For six years Ames and her 6-4 sister Ashley, who graduated in 2005, helped the Tigers win five straight regional titles, and 2004 and 2006 state championships.

“It’s been awesome,” Mallory Ames said. “I can’t believe that I helped accomplish this.”

Others have contributed over the years including Sabrina Cote, Brittany Veazie, Ashley Foster and Katie Poirier. Former coach Margaret Veazie led Dexter to its first regional and state titles.

The sisters are two of three Dexter girls to have scored 1,000 points in their careers. Ashley Ames finished with more than 1,500 points.

Mallory Ames credited Margaret Veazie with getting her off to a good start. Veazie brought in brothers Dave and Steve Towle, former Dexter High standouts, to practice against the sisters early in their careers.

“That really helped with my hands and learning to get around other people in the post and shooting over people,” Mallory Ames said. “They came in pretty much every practice and they really helped me improve.”

Grant said Ames has “made tremendous strides in her composure” since she was ejected from a preseason game last year after committing a flagrant foul.

Ames agreed that the foul and ejection were a good lesson.

“It opened my eyes,” she said. “Sometimes the refs will call it every time I touch someone. Sometimes, they won’t call anything. I’ve gotten used to that. It’s just part of the game.”

No matter how teams defend Ames, whether they try to draw fouls or commit fouls against her, she has been tough to stop. The Tigers faced three different defenses in the tournament this year but Ames still managed to average 25 points per game.

On the occasions Ames has been in foul trouble or injured, as she was this winter when she rolled an already tender ankle, senior Poirier has been there.

The 5-11 forward doesn’t have Ames’ height, but she took over the scoring duties earlier this year as Ames dealt with her ankle.

“Katie’s very talented and it’s been good to have her on the team,” Ames said. “It’s kind of like having me and my sister back together because even though she’s not as tall as Ashley she can do everything Ashley could. [Poirier is] strong and she can always score.”

Along with Dexter’s success has come a backlash, Mallory Ames has learned.

During Dexter’s semifinal against Fort Kent last week a spectator sitting on the Fort Kent side held up a sign with the letters M-P-A written vertically and Mallory Protection Agency written horizontally next to each letter.

The sign was meant to be a play on the Maine Principals’ Association and a reference to Ames’ game-winning basket against Narraguagus of Harrington in the quarterfinals. The basket was either a buzzer-beater or too late, depending on which side of the Auditorium you were sitting. But it counted and the Tigers moved on.

“It took me a while to figure that [sign] out,” Ames said with a laugh.

Ames returned home from Dexter’s semifinal against Fort Kent Friday night to find an anonymous instant message on her computer. The writer told Ames she “sucked.”

“I was like, OK, the crowd doesn’t like me,” Ames said, smiling again. “That stuff just gets me more pumped up for the next game. It just makes me want to play better.”

But there was good news for Ames Saturday. She found out she has been accepted to UMaine-Farmington, which is playing in the NCAA Division III tournament this week.

Ames is ready for the next level, but also wistful about the end of her high school career.

“I’m excited to be out of high school but it’s like, wow, it’s over,” she said. “I’m going to miss it.”