Southern Aroostook of Dyer Brook Coach Tom Berry feels better about his team being in third place rather than fourth or fifth with three weeks to go before the Eastern Maine Class D schoolgirl basketball tournaments begin.

The hope of the Warriors is that they can stay in that third spot and not drop down to the dreaded fourth spot, which is often the target of the No. 5 spoiler such as last year when Washburn ended their season.

But even if Southern Aroostook enters the tournament in third place, Berry will still be a concerned coach. “It’s a funny year,” he said. “There are some teams out there I don’t know what they’ll do, especially when I look down through the 7-8-9 spots.”

Berry believes those teams, despite their less-than .500 records, “have the capability of being good and are capable of pulling off a big win” if his team lets down for a moment.

“My sincere feeling is there is no one we play who can’t be beaten, and no one we play who can’t beat us. It just depends how we play on any given night.”

Southern Aroostook is 8-6 following a Thursday night win over Washburn. The win was a psychologically important contest for the Warriors. “In my five years, we’ve played Washburn 11 times and they’ve beaten us every time but once,” Berry said prior to Thursday night’s game.

Southern Aroostook is an interesting team. It’s small and young. Of the 13 girls in the program, seven wear junior varsity uniforms and six wear varsity uniforms. All sit on the bench for the varsity game.

Berry starts its only senior, 5-foot-5 forward Susan Russell; juniors Donna Grass, a 5-5 forward, and Holly McGraw, a 5-4 guard; and freshmen Jill Mathers, a 5-6 guard, and Jessica Walker at center. The sixth player is junior forward Jodi Corneil.

McGraw is the leading scorer, averaging between 12-13 points per game, followed by Mathers and Walker. Because of its makeup, the SAHS strength is defense.

“This is probably the most physically fit team we’ve ever had,” Berry said. “We’re running two teams out of one, which we’ve done in the past. Susan, for example, used to play all the jayvee games and half the varsity games. We still have people who play jayvee who come in for the second game. The kids are learning well and working hard. Fortunately, we’ve not had a key injury because that would definitely be a spike through our heart if we lost any of the top six.”

Despite her size, Walker is doing the job at center. “She was a point guard in junior high, but she posts up well, seals the inside, and even though she’s been stuck with some two- or three-point games, she’s developed into a good rebounder and scorer,” Berry said. “She has to front people, but she does well even up against someone 5-11.”

Berry considers the team attitude good, recognizing the Warriors are still working to build a program. “Sometimes kids have to learn how to win, and that’s tough,” he said. “For a couple of years we were a doormat. For a couple of years we were a team to watch out for. Now we’re a team people expect more from. They aren’t looking past us any more. That’s a real testament to our kids since we have just 13.”

So this small, young, short team compensates, concentrating on playing pressure, full-court, man-to-man defense. During a recent 4-game win streak, no opponent scored more than 40 points.

“The problem is,” Berry said, “nights when we do not play especially well, it shows. We can’t let teams score 60 points. We just can’t match that.”

To stay in third place when the final points are tallied, Berry said, Southern Aroostook needs a minimum of two wins. But, he said, “I’d like to think there are three or four more out there.”