BANGOR – Jonesport-Beals High School senior guard Brittany Alley has been a fortunate young lady.

Not only did she get to pick the brain of her dad and high school coach Skipper Alley, her grandfather is the legendary Ordie Alley.

Ordie Alley guided the Royals to nine state championships, 13 Eastern Maine titles and more than 550 victories in an exemplary 39-year coaching career.

So who does she turn to when she needs advice?

“My dad. But if he needs advice, he’ll go to Gramps,” said Brittany with a smile.

She said she has spent a lot of time “watching [basketball] videos and discussing them” with her grandfather as well as her father.

She said her grandfather and her father have similar personalities with a few little differences.

“Gramps is more of a joker. Dad is a little more reserved. But he’s funny, too,” said Brittany.

Brittany concluded her career on a positive note, leading the Royalettes to their first Eastern Maine Class D tournament appearance in eight years.

However, second seed Woodland eliminated the seventh-seeded Royalettes 78-28 in their quarterfinal Monday morning.

Jonesport-Beals concluded an 11-9 season.

Dragons’ Cochran USM-bound

Woodland High School senior forward Courtney Cochran intends to play basketball at the University of Southern Maine next season.

The athletic 6-footer, who had 18 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals in her team’s win over Jonesport-Beals Monday morning, said she chose USM over several other schools, including Maine Maritime Academy in Castine and the University of New Haven (Conn.).

“I made my decision last month. I’m really excited about it,” said Cochran. “They have a great basketball program down there. I love the atmosphere and I love being in a city. We’re an hour and a half away from Bangor.”

Royalettes hope to be back in ’09

The Jonesport-Beals girls’ first trip to the tournament didn’t go as well as they would have liked.

But, despite the lopsided loss to Woodland, the girls have something to build on for next season.

“We’ll grow from this experience,” said junior forward BreAnna Beal. “We learned a lot this year and we learned a lot more than just basketball.”

Beal added that one of the most valuable lessons was the value of teamwork and hard work.

She also said she and her teammates feel fortunate to have been able to play at the Bangor Auditorium.

“Not everybody can say they played at the Bangor Auditorium,” said Beal, who added that a lot of people didn’t expect them to get as far as they did.

Junior center Hannah Carver said the Royalettes will be even more motivated to get back next year and earn a higher seed.

“We’ll work even harder because we don’t want to end up playing [one of the top seeds],” said Carver.

The Royalettes will graduate just three seniors off this year’s team.

Skipper Alley thought his girls were nervous because they hadn’t been to the Bangor Auditorium for the tournament and the girls agreed.

BC has everybody back

Another team you can expect to see in the Eastern Maine Class D Tournament next year is Bangor Christian, which was eliminated by Central Aroostook of Mars Hill 63-45.

The Patriots, who wound up 15-5, didn’t have one senior on their roster.

The starting lineup featured juniors Katie Libby, Hope Johnson and Kelly Robinson; sophomore Katherine Bragg and freshman Hannah Pray.

lmahoney@bangordailynews.net

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