The Kennebunk High girls’ basketball team appears on the way to its first playoff appearance in 10 years.
The Rams are 8-6 after Thursday night’s win over Westbrook, in sixth place in Class A South. Nine teams qualify for the playoffs.
“We’ve got a little work to do,” said Rob Sullivan, in his 21st season as the head coach and now the elder statesman of girls’ basketball coaches in southern Maine. “But I’m very pleased with all the effort the girls are putting in.”
Kennebunk last qualified for the tournament in the 2006-07 season, when it went 10-10 and lost in the quarterfinals. That was also its last season at.500 or better.
The Rams totaled eight wins in eight years – twice going 0-18, three times winning one game – before going 7-11 last season, just missing the playoffs.
“We had a stretch where we just didn’t have a lot of kids who made basketball a priority,” said Sullivan. “They were good athletes but in other sports. “The last few years we’ve had a nice nucleus of young talent. They took their lumps a couple of years ago, but we had a fantastic summer and the attendance was high. This team is setting the tone. Our (junior varsity) team is having a good season. We’re starting to get kids where basketball is their priority again.”
The Rams secured big wins early this season against No. 6 Falmouth, No. 5 Fryeburg Academy and Class AA Massabesic.
They close against four of the top five teams in Class A South: Fryeburg, Marshwood (4), Greely (1) and York (3).
Sullivan said a focus on fundamentals has been a big reason for success. He said the town’s youth programs are stressing that – and it’s helping produce better players.
This year’s team has been led by the play and leadership of its seniors: guards Gabby Fogg and Sierra Tarte, and forwards Madison Lux, Emily Dupler and Marran Oakman.
Fogg leads the Rams at 12.3 points per game. No other player is in double figures but everyone else contributes.
Lux is the leading rebounder at 8.3 per game and provides exceptional defense in the middle of Kennebunk’s zone. Tarte, the point guard, leads the Western Maine Conference in assists (5.6).
“She’s done a great job cutting down her turnovers and increasing her assists,” Sullivan said of Tarte. “She was thrown into a position as a very young player and she probably shouldn’t have. But she’s really learned to play the position.”
Oakman, a standout lacrosse player, has been a surprise. She’s contributing at all ends with her tough, physical play.
The only glitch? After playing the last four seasons in the WMC, Kennebunk is once again applying to play in the Southwestern Maine Activities Association, where it’s had its biggest struggles.
“We just couldn’t compete with the depth of those (SMAA) teams before,” said Sullivan. “And we were losing. When that happens, you don’t get the kids where basketball is their second sport. We lost a lot of good athletes. And we were overmatched. It was a perfect storm, which we’ve climbed out of.”
Sullivan likes the future.
“We’ve got a great group of girls in the system,” he said. “And they’re all young.”
Instead, Medomak Valley is sitting atop the league with a 13-0 record heading into Friday’s game at No. 3 Oceanside (10-2).
“They have surprised me a little bit,” said Coach Nick DePatsy, now in his 10th season at the school and 26th overall.
“I think a lot of it has to do with the chemistry and the fact that they’ve accepted their roles.”
DePatsy said senior Cale Gee is a prime example of how the team adjusted. Formerly a wing player who ran the court looking to get the ball as a valuable reserve, the senior is now a sturdy 6-1 starting point guard distributing the ball.
“It’s cut into his scoring a little but he’s accepted the role,” DePatsy said.
Donlin has more than doubled his scoring and leads the team with 18.6 points per game.
“He’s really emerged and come to the forefront,” DePatsy said.
Donlin’s improved offense and hard-nosed play has taken some attention off Allaire, who has similarly flourished, improving his scoring by over four points a game to 16.7 and leading the team in rebounding.
“Lately he’s been playing great. He’s got like five double-doubles in a row,” DePatsy said.
Senior forward Cameron Martin and senior guard Zidane McMurrin add a tough defensive presence. Since winning its fifth game, 64-58 at Nokomis, the Panthers have beaten their next eight opponents by an average of 21.4 points.
“We’ve been tested a little bit. We’ve been behind at halftime three or four times, and then gone to the second half and really excelled,” DePatsy said. “They believe in each other and believe in themselves, and it’s fun to watch.”
“We as a community and as an athletic department have been impacted by cancer,” said Todd Livingston, the athletic director. “We’ve had several parents of athletes who have passed, and some former athletes who were extremely young.”
When Livingston brought the idea of participating in the American Cancer Society’s Coaches Vs. Cancer, the suggestion was well-received. This is South Portland’s second year participating in the program, which started in 1993 in conjunction with the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
The South Portland hockey team has already run a fund-raising game. The basketball teams will host Coaches vs. Cancer games Friday (boys vs. Massabesic at 7) and Saturday (girls vs. Cheverus, 2:30).
Funds raised will support research and programs to support Maine cancer patients.
Other southern Maine schools with upcoming Coaches vs. Cancer basketball games are Gray-New Gloucester (Friday), Mt. Ararat (Friday), Yarmouth (Tuesday), Bonny Eagle (Feb. 3) and Windham (Feb. 3). Yarmouth’s hockey team will host a Feb. 7 event.
Cape Elizabeth, Cheverus, Kennebunk, Morse, Old Orchard Beach, Poland and Waynflete held Coaches vs. Cancer games earlier this season.
Blethen could be cleared to resume practice as early as Monday with an eye on being full speed for the playoffs, said Coach Tanner Grover.
