Bangor’s Dionne to coach at Nokomis

Bangor-Nokomis girls basketball games will provide more than their share of interesting matchups, and not just on the floor.

Kori Dionne, a former point guard for Bangor High and a 1999 Bangor graduate, will take over as coach of the Nokomis of Newport girls basketball team next season. That means at least two games against the Rams and her former high school coach, Tom Tennett.

Dionne was offered the job and accepted last week, although Nokomis athletic director Jason Tardy said Dionne’s hiring still needs to be approved by the SAD 48 board of directors. The next board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 21.

“We’re very excited. She’s going to be a good addition,” Tardy said. “She has a lot of energy that she brings to the program.”

She takes over for Earl Anderson, who resigned in April after 12 years.

An education technician in the Bangor School Department, Dionne also worked with Tennett. She spent the last three years coaching the junior varsity and freshmen at Bangor High.

“I’m really excited for the opportunity to run my own program,” said Dionne, who played on the 1999 Bangor team that made it to the Eastern Maine Class A final but fell to eventual state champion Mt. Blue of Farmington 45-41. “I’ve known for a while, even back when I was in high school and working summer camps with [Tennett] that coaching was something that I’d wanted to be involved in.”

Dionne also coached a 13-and-under AAU team, the BYBC (Bangor Y Basketball Club) Select, which won the state AAU title in its age group.

In addition to being influenced by Tennett as both a player and a fellow coach, Dionne cited other local coaches such as Anderson and former Brewer coach Mark Savage, for whom Dionne served as an assistant while doing student teaching, as having helped her along the way.

“I’ve been fortunate to have been able to have picked the brains of many good coaches,” she said. “In the coaching world everyone’s willing to lend a helping hand. … [Tennett] really influenced me to get into teaching and he gave me my first head coaching opportunity with the freshman team and the JVs last year.”

Anderson coached the Warriors to the 2001 Class A state championship and Eastern Maine titles in 2001 and 2003. Dionne said she’d like to see the team get back to competing for championships.

“I love the fact that they’re an established program with kids that are competitive,” she said. “I have high expectations for my athletes, not only as basketball players but as students and people in the community. All I can ask for my kids is to go out and play their hardest.”

Although the Warriors have some rebuilding to do with the graduation of senior starters Tatum Welch, Noelle Lincoln and Teresa Cooper, Nokomis will return guard Ashley Wyman and one of the top point guards in the state, Kelley Paradis, for her senior year. Paradis was an honorable mention All-Maine player as well as second-team KVAC North last winter.

Dionne isn’t familiar with the team yet, but several of the girls in her AAU program should attend Nokomis in the near future.

“There’s quite a group of kids coming up through the middle school program,” she said. “It’ll be helpful in the transition within the next year or two. Knowing any of the kids will be helpful.”

Dionne was named Big East Conference honorable mention in 1999 and was also named an all-star in softball by both the Penobscot Valley Conference and Maine Softball Coaches Association.

She graduated from the University of Maine in 2003.

Tardy said Shawn Richards, a varsity assistant last year, and middle school coach April Crockett are helping coach the Nokomis teams in their summer programs.

O’Brien shines for USA

Greely of Cumberland Center track and field star Becky O’Brien finished eighth in the girls discus at the IAAF World Youth Championships last week in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

O’Brien’s best throw of 44.48 meters (145 feet, 11 inches) came on her third attempt. She qualified in 11th place after the morning preliminary round.

“When you wear the USA uniform, you know you have a job to do,” O’Brien said in a story on the USA Track and Field Web site. “It was a little tough to throw in the morning and then come back in the evening and compete again, but it is great preparation for the future. I am excited about the shot put and want to win a medal here.”

The discus mark is just shy of the 147-5 she threw at the New England Championships last month but better than the 140-8 she recorded at the Class B state championships, which was a Class B record.

O’Brien will be a senior at Greely High this fall.

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