Camden Sweeps Hampden

Let's start with the Game of the Day. To Hampden!

The Hampden girls were on a 10-game winning streak--a streak that started after a loss to Camden in Rockport all the way back in December. It doesn't take a fancy computer to think maybe Camden could end the winning streak in a rematch. Actually, a fancy computer probably won't help, as the Model had Hampden favored by 10. BUT, the Model didn't know the Broncos would be without standout center Grace LaBree. Hey, you play who's in front of you.

Camden grabbed 18 offensive rebounds (missing LaBree is kind of big deal there) and used a 14-0 run to turn a tie game into a convincing road win. Leah Jones led the Windjammers with 15 points.

Larry Mahoney was there.

Defense gets the job done for Camden Hills girls in battle of top teams

The win was Camden Hills’ second over Hampden Academy and the Broncos had won 10 in a row between the losses to the Windjammers.

Bangor Daily NewsLarry Mahoney

The win moves Camden up to 2nd in the A North standings--for now. Mt. Ararat is right behind them with an extra game to play. This could easily come down to the wire.

It's even closer if you look at the Power Rankings, where the three teams are separated by 0.259 points

Caribou outlasted Orono in overtime. Owen Corrigan and Brady Hews each scored 22.

High-energy player takes ‘huge charge’ to help Caribou boys basketball get overtime win

Declan Miller gave the Vikings a boost to start overtime by taking a charge and getting the ball back for his team.

Bangor Daily NewsMatt Junker

You've heard it said all season that this is the Year of the Freshman, and for good reason. Mike Mandell wrote about it last week.

An elite freshman class is making its mark on Maine high school hoops

Coaches have been raving for years about the Class of 2029 and, thus far, a group of freshmen surrounded by massive hype has delivered.

Centralmaine.comMike MandellStaff Writer

And it's been easy podcast content, partly because the freshmen keep doing awesome things, whether it's Leonel Despacho at SoPo or Quinn Pelletier at Madawaska or Gage Mattson at Maranacook or Carter Braithwaite at Cony. They keep doing cool things, like Olivia Breen dropping a 50 burger and breaking Oceanside's scoring record or last night when Cheverus' Khaleon Watkins exploded for a 23 point, 21 rebound double-double against Scarborough.

Michael Hoffer was there.

Cheverus boys ride Watkins’ dominance to win at Scarborough

SCARBOROUGH—Midway through the fourth quarter, the question rang out at the scorer’s table at Alumni Gymnasium. “Are you sure he’s just a freshman?” The “he” in this case is Cheverus boys’ basketball standout Khaleon Watkins and the answer is, yes indeed, Watkins is a freshman and Monday afternoon, the

Hoffer's High School SportsMichael Hoffer

Over the last couple of years, the parameters of what's possible for our basketball talent has been re-calibrated and while it's easy to write it off as a generational outlier, I'm not sure that it is entirely. The level of talent is up all over the state and I don't think that's even remotely up for debate.

It's a great time to be in Maine (minus that cold snap coming up in a couple days).

Elsewhere

Nolan Ames dropped 31 on Hampden...Mount View's Wyatt Bennett went off for 32 against Winslow...Kason Bua scored 21 in Presque Isle's win over Old Town...OOB's Corinne Androkitis dropped 26 on Richmond...Lucas LeGage's 20 led Portland over Falmouth...Riley Ewing had 17 and Kendall Therrien had 16 in Kennebunk's win over Deering...Max Bouchard and Colin Moran each had 17 in Bonny Eagle's win over Deering...Lilly Bell scored 20 as Caribou beat Orono...The Yarmouth girls rallied down 7 late to beat Freeport...Madison Blanchard's 15 points and a 17-3 run fueled Mountain Valley's win over Lisbon...Waterville overcame a 1 point second quarter to beat Bucksport...Finn Connolly's 17 points led Cape over Traip...Lincoln Hardy had 20 in Southern Aroostook's win over Van Buren...Gen Curtis had 16 in PI's win over Old Town...Evan Oranellas' 21 led Yarmouth over Freeport...Mattanawcook's Andrew Oliver dropped 30 on Sumner.

Thornton Academy's Connor Ayoob is your Fitzpatrick winner.

Thornton’s Connor Ayoob wins 54th Fitzpatrick Trophy

The record-setting running back completes a sweep of the major high school football player of the year awards.

The Portland Press HeraldSteve CraigStaff Writer

One of Ayoob's signature performances of the year was against Bonny Eagle where he ran for something like 300 yards.

Jaylen Brown is a starter in the All-Star Game.

Cooper finished 17th in both the fan vote and the player vote and I'm going to go out on a limb and say that's the lowest he's going to appear on those lists (assuming health) for the next 10 years.

A couple of years ago, when Lizzy Gruber was putting up video game numbers for Gardiner and Bailey Breen was a freshman (I think? Don't yell at me.), Don Shields was pushing hard for the KVAC to flex into a Gardiner/Oceanside game instead of Gardiner/Lincoln Academy and Oceanside/Winslow, but it never happened and we didn't get to see two talented bigs go head-to-head.

Now, Gruber and Breen are teammates in Orono and we're getting that matchup. Scheduling has gotten better.

Gardiner is one of the stories of the season so far. They're seemingly in the newsletter every other day, and for good reason. They lead B North in +/-, scoring defense, and %Perfect--an impressive trifecta--and you could make the argument they're a year ahead of schedule.

Oceanside leads B South in scoring offense, +/-, and %Perfect--basically the same trifecta, just on the other end of the floor.

Let's call it the Don Shields Bowl.

The Model's picks for the rest of today's games are after the jump.