Mt. Ararat Takes Off
The Eagles turn a bad start into a blowout
Let's start with the Game of the Day.
York headed to Topsham with a level of confidence you get after a signature win over a team as good as GNG and came out hot--ripping off a 7-0 run to start the game. And when Julianna Allen picked up her second foul in the first two minutes of the game, it had the making of an upset.
Only, no one told Mt. Ararat.
The Eagles turned up their defensive pressure and leaned on their playoff experience to get back in the game. They erased the 7-point deficit with Allen on the bench and led 19-17 after 1 quarter.
And then they absolutely demolished York. Kayleigh Wagg scored 14 of her 21 points in the first half. The Jensen sisters took over the game (Jaelyn Jensen: 18/7r/3a; Jenna Jensen: 13/5s/4a) and York had no answers after that initial 7-0 run. Mt. Ararat rolled to an 88-38 shellacking that moved the champs to 9-1 on the year.
If we go to the Tourney Odds, Mt. Ararat has locked up a bye, but they've got some work to do if they're going to catch Hampden for the 1 seed.
For a while now, a Forest Hills player with "Desjardins" on their jersey (or, I guess, shooting shirt) has been a walking bucket. The sort of instant offense you have to game plan for.
The newest Desjardins, Jaxson, has taken that to a new level by scoring his 1,000th point halfway through his sophomore year. He had 27 in Forest Hills' win at Rangeley. With 1,000 points this early, you have to wonder if he can join his brother Parker (2,083) in the 2,000 point club. It's not a big club.
He needs to average 21.7 for the rest of his career (assuming 1 playoff game every season), which seems very doable. If he can average 28.4, he'll catch Ray Alley (2,306) for the boys record. That could be in play.
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For the second year in a row, Belfast got a big win at home against Oceanside. And in dramatic fashion.
Trevin Ripley had 31 points, 19 rebounds, and 6 assists in the win.
Elsewhere
Julius Searles scored 28 points to lead a Biddeford comeback over Massabesic...with Logan Gray on the sidelines because of his dunk technicals, Brunswick's Rylan Ley and Jonny Porter each scored 12 points in a win over Skowhegan...Akol Maiwen dropped 26 on Edward Little...Kylie Lamson dropped 27 on Marshwood...Celia Bergdahl had 15 and Maranacook held Mountain Valley scoreless in the 4th quarter...Mollie Puffer's 19 led Sanford to a win over Bonny Eagle...Down 23-11, South Portland closed with a 22-3 run to stun Scarborough...Reece MacDonald dropped 28 on Mt. Ararat...A.J. Moody returned to the lineup and led Windham with 19 points in a win over Gorham...Gio Staples had 17 as Westbrook doubled up Marshwood...Loic Ramazani (12/7/5/6) stuffed the stat sheet as Portland crushed Noble...Cai Dougher had 16 in Spruce's win over Madison...Collin Verrill's 24 led Pine Tree over Richmond...Elizabeth Galway had 21 as Edward Little crushed Oxford Hills...Brooke Bodnar's 19 paced TA by Kennebunk...Marley Jarvais' double-double (17 & 10) led Windham by Gorham...De’Shaun Alton had 14 in TA's win over Kennebunk...Evan Drake had 22 as Mount Blue handled Messo...Grayson Bernard had 27 and Lewiston scored 30 points in the 4th quarter to stun GNG.
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The number of people on Facebook complaining about Heal Points was driving me crazy, so I made a short video.
Of course, if you're here, you already know that the Heal Points on this site are superior.
There's not a lot of games on the schedule tonight, but there's one pretty big one.
We're going to B North, where the standings are a bit of a surprise.
I don't know how many people had Gardiner at 10-0 before the season started. In the preseason poll, Gardiner was picked to finish 6th, Old Town was 8th, and Lawrence was the overwhelming favorite.
Lawrence already has 2 losses on the year, which is probably what people figured they'd end up with on the whole season, a loss to Oceanside and a loss to Hampden in a game Maddie Provost left early with an injury. Word on the street is she'll be back for this game, hopefully at full strength.
Gardiner is 10-0 and are the only team in B North to secure a bye. They've been dominant (2nd in B in point differential and 1st in %Perfect), but it's been against a schedule that's seen 1 team in the top 30 so far. However, it's about to get a lot harder. They've got Lawrence on the road tonight, then they head down to Rockland next Tuesday to play Oceanside before hosting Lawrence next Thursday. If they can come through that stretch still unbeaten (or even with 1 loss), we'll have to start talking about them as contenders.
The Model's picks for the rest of today's games are after the jump.