The Kennebunk High girls\u2019 basketball team appears on the way to its first playoff appearance in 10 years.
The Rams are 8-6 after Thursday night\u2019s win over Westbrook, in sixth place in Class A South. Nine teams qualify for the playoffs.
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a little work to do,\u201d said Rob Sullivan, in his 21st season as the head coach and now the elder statesman of girls\u2019 basketball coaches in southern Maine. \u201cBut I\u2019m very pleased with all the effort the girls are putting in.\u201d
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 \u2013 twice going 0-18, three times winning one game \u2013 before going 7-11 last season, just missing the playoffs.
\u201cWe had a stretch where we just didn\u2019t have a lot of kids who made basketball a priority,\u201d said Sullivan. \u201cThey were good athletes but in other sports. \u201cThe last few years we\u2019ve 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\u2019re starting to get kids where basketball is their priority again.\u201d
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\u2019s youth programs are stressing that \u2013 and it\u2019s helping produce better players.
This year\u2019s 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\u2019s zone. Tarte, the point guard, leads the Western Maine Conference in assists (5.6).
\u201cShe\u2019s done a great job cutting down her turnovers and increasing her assists,\u201d Sullivan said of Tarte. \u201cShe was thrown into a position as a very young player and she probably shouldn\u2019t have. But she\u2019s really learned to play the position.\u201d
Oakman, a standout lacrosse player, has been a surprise. She\u2019s 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\u2019s had its biggest struggles.
\u201cWe just couldn\u2019t compete with the depth of those (SMAA) teams before,\u201d said Sullivan. \u201cAnd we were losing. When that happens, you don\u2019t 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\u2019ve climbed out of.\u201d
Sullivan likes the future.
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a great group of girls in the system,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd they\u2019re all young.\u201d
Instead, Medomak Valley is sitting atop the league with a 13-0 record heading into Friday\u2019s game at No. 3 Oceanside (10-2).
\u201cThey have surprised me a little bit,\u201d said Coach Nick DePatsy, now in his 10th season at the school and 26th overall.
\u201cI think a lot of it has to do with the chemistry and the fact that they\u2019ve accepted their roles.\u201d
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.
\u201cIt\u2019s cut into his scoring a little but he\u2019s accepted the role,\u201d DePatsy said.
Donlin has more than doubled his scoring and leads the team with 18.6 points per game.
\u201cHe\u2019s really emerged and come to the forefront,\u201d DePatsy said.
Donlin\u2019s 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.
\u201cLately he\u2019s been playing great. He\u2019s got like five double-doubles in a row,\u201d 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.
\u201cWe\u2019ve been tested a little bit. We\u2019ve been behind at halftime three or four times, and then gone to the second half and really excelled,\u201d DePatsy said. \u201cThey believe in each other and believe in themselves, and it\u2019s fun to watch.\u201d
\u201cWe as a community and as an athletic department have been impacted by cancer,\u201d said Todd Livingston, the athletic director. \u201cWe\u2019ve had several parents of athletes who have passed, and some former athletes who were extremely young.\u201d
When Livingston brought the idea of participating in the American Cancer Society\u2019s Coaches Vs. Cancer, the suggestion was well-received. This is South Portland\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.
The 6-2 Blethen was averaging 15.5 points a game through nine games this season and had been \u201ca monster on defense\u201d at the top of Boothbay\u2019s press, averaging a Mountain Valley Conference-leading 5.5 steals.
With Page Brown averaging 22 points and senior point guard Kate Friant\u2019s steady play, the Seahawks remained unbeaten until losing at Monmouth Academy on Saturday, 49-36. Boothbay is 12-1. Monmouth is 12-2.
\u201cWe have shown to our opponents and even ourselves that we\u2019re a little bit deeper than we thought we were,\u201d Grover said.
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