AUGUSTA – The happiest player after Friday afternoon’s Eastern Maine Class A girls basketball final never scored a point and never even saw a second of action in Cony of Augusta’s 65-58 victory over Skowhegan.

Kristi Violette was just happy to be there.

Violette, one of Cony’s leading scorers throughout the regular season and one of the heroes in the regional quarterfinals when the Rams rallied from a six-point deficit in the final minute of overtime to defeat Nokomis of Newport 54-52, was less than 24 hours removed from a hospital bed.

And only a couple of days removed from being in a coma.

Violette went to her doctor for a checkup late last week, and left with what was suspected to be nothing more than a cold. She played in Cony’s quarterfinal win that night, but the cold kept getting worse.

Violette went to a local hospital emergency room on Sunday and again was sent home with what she described as a “bad cold.”

“I wasn’t getting any better; really, I was getting a lot worse,” said Violette, a 5-foot-11 junior forward. “So I went back to the hospital again and I wound up going into a coma. They transported me down to Portland, and I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.”

Violette said that while a normal blood sugar reading is between 80 and 120, her reading was nearly 1,000 when first measured.

She remained in a coma for about a day and a half, she said, before doctors were able to stabilize her condition.

Violette left the hospital and returned home Thursday evening and was on the bench Friday to watch her teammates win the school’s third straight Eastern A championship despite having Skowhegan narrow a deficit of as much as 22 points to just four late in the game.

“They gave me a good lead at the start, and I was kind of comfortable sitting down, but at the end it was a little tense and I was just holding onto people on the bench,” Violette said. “But they did what needed to be done and won the game.”

Violette hopes to begin working out on a stationary bike as soon as Saturday in an effort to be ready to play in the state championship game on March 4 at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland.

“I’m starting to regain my strength,” she said, “but standing up is a task right now.”

That didn’t stop Violette from sharing in Friday’s celebration, as well as taking her turn carrying the championship plaque around the Augusta Civic Center.

It was a sight that may have pleased her teammates even more.

“We have been playing for Allyson [Cheever, out with a knee injury] and Kristi these last couple of games,” said sophomore forward Rachael Mack. “And we all just wanted to work that much harder so Kristi would have a chance to play in the state game.”

Madawaska’s scary stop

All four teams playing in Friday afternoon’s Eastern Maine Class C boys semifinals arrived at the Bangor Auditorium in plenty of time despite the snow, slush, and generally treacherous driving.

The Madawaska boys, who had the longest drive of the afternoon’s teams, saw about 10 cars off the side of the road and had a scary moment when their bus stopped for one accident on Interstate 95 around Alton.

Madawaska coach Matt Rossignol said the school bus was flagged down by an elderly couple whose car had gone off the highway.

“The coaches and I went right down [to the car],” he recalled. “The woman was unconscious and there was some blood.”

The team stayed on the bus, Rossignol added, and the Madawaska entourage stayed with the couple as another woman pulled to the side of the road. The woman, who told the coaches she was a nurse, said the woman had a strong pulse.

Once the police arrived and determined the couple would be OK, the team bus continued its trip to Bangor.

“Once we knew things were going to be OK, we left,” Rossignol said.