A Fan Gets Ejected

I was going to go to the Game of the Day at Mt. Ararat, but I was tired and didn't feel like making the drive, so I figured I'd stay close to home and see my niece's JV game against Erskine. She played well!

Seven minutes into the varsity game (between 12-3 Medomak Valley and 12-2 Erskine), it seemed like maybe I had made the wrong decision, as the Erskine girls led Medomak Valley 17-2, the Panthers had missed their first 15 shots and couldn't get anything going against an active Erskine defense that forced 15 first half turnovers. They also couldn't slow down Kienna Morse, who had 8 points in the first quarter to go with 2 steals. Factor in that Erskine won the earlier matchup in China by 18 and this one had blowout written all over it.

Medomak shot it a little better in the 2nd quarter (4/12), but Erskine's defense was everywhere, pushing the lead to 16 before Sadie Knight closed the half with a three to cut it to 13.

Kelsie Dunn opened the half with a three to get the lead back to 16 and then I'm not really sure what happened next, but something clicked with the Panthers. They went on a 17-1 run to tie the game, with Audrey Jackson scoring 8 points and blocking 2 shots and Kytana Williamson dishing out 4 assists.

Out of a timeout, Kinsey Ulmer stopped the bleeding and the teams traded buckets until, well, things got interesting.

Tied 41-41, Erskine coach Danielle Lefferts got hot after a call and picked up a technical warning. To set the stage, the Erskine crowd was not thrilled with the officiating, even as they were threatening to run away with the game in the first half. So as you can imagine, the second half didn't help matters.

After the tech warning, this happened.

That's Larry Sidelinger and Phil Carlson on the call. And kudos to them for showing the incident and not doing the thing where they pan away from the guy who runs on the field as to "not encourage them". Because these incidents are ugly and the best thing to do is shine a light on stuff like this and expose the idiocy.

Watching it live, there was a minute where you thought he might make contact with the cop and it's not hard to imagine what could have happened had the officer been in a bad mood, because...that's a lot of extra time screaming at the ref as you're being exported out of the building by a guy with handcuffs and a taser. Seems like a bad idea, is all.

Looking at it longer, I think it's commendable that the ref didn't give Lefferts a tech in that situation--she certainly had earned one--and give away free points in a tied game in the fourth quarter. It's way better to give the warning and toss an unruly fan.

After the delay, Kytana Williamson and Chloe Fox took over to close out the game and Medomak won 52-46. Williamson finished on quadruple-double watch with 19 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists, and 8 steals. Fox added 12 points and 19 rebounds. Kelsie Dunn led Erskine with 12 and 7.

With Medomak's win and the Oceanside loss to Mt. Ararat, we have quite a bit of clarity in B South girls.

Here's the heal points.

And here's the Tourney Odds.

Wells is locked in at 5. Biddeford is probably 4, but they could move up. Without digging into it, I'd guess Oceanside would have to lose 2 of their final 3 and maybe all three to drop to 4. They'd have to win out to get to 2. Medomak and Spruce is interesting. With an extra game to play, I assume Spruce controls their own destiny. The big question is that final bye. This is down to York and Mountain Valley after Yarmouth and Lincoln Academy lost yesterday.

As for B North, it's a mess.

Buckfield's Trenton Haskell WENT OFF against Rangeley, drilling THIRTEEN THREES en route to 49(!!!) points.

Down south, Marshwood got a scare from Westbrook, but won in overtime to improve to 14-1. Sarah Theriault led the way with 17.

Marshwood survives threat from Westbrook to win in overtime in girls basketball

Sarah Theriault (17 points) helps lead the Hawks to victory over the Blue Blazes 56-50 in SMAA play.

Press HeraldDrew BonifantPortland Press Herald

Deering's Evan Legassey joined the 1,000 point club.

Deering’s Evan Legassey tops 1000 points!

(Standish) Congratulations to Deering Sr. Guard Evan Legassey who on Tuesday night scored his 1-thousandth career point leading the Rams to a 52-44 win over Bon

WGMEDavid Eid

He's a freshman!

But, seriously, never chant that. Get some new material.

Elsewhere

Fisher Tewksbury's game winner with 3.3 seconds left lifted Valley over Dirigo in double overtime...The Penobscot Valley girls led 47-1 at halftime...Owen McGrath had 24 and Trevor Gerrish added 14 & 12 in Brunswick's win over Biddeford...Gabe Lash's 15 led a balanced Medomak attack over Erskine...Eli Smith had 24 in Cape's win over Wells...Rachel Penny's 21 led Edward Little to a blowout of Portland...Madalyn Provost's 26 & 9 and Lilly Gray's 10 & 11 led Lawrence in a statement blowout of Cony...Izzy Morelli went for 24 as GNG beat Yarmouth...Cheverus got 24 from Leo McNabb in a win over Scarborough...Owen Hurd's 21 led Lisbon to their second win of the year...Mt. Blue needed all of their 10 triples to beat Skowhegan...Damon Martin's 21 points and 8 dimes led Poland to a win over Mountain Valley...Zander Steele, owner of the coolest name in Maine high school basketball, had 22 and 10 as Richmond cruised past Pine Tree...Liam Willey had 15 points as Temple raced out to a 24-5 first quarter lead against Vinalhaven...Wyatt Benoit led TA with 24 against Gorham...Nolan Ames had 14 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, and 5 steals as Camden beat Hampden...Westbrook's Moses Semuhoza dropped 25 on Marshwood...Natalia Silva had 21 as Biddeford beat Brunswick...Kylie Lamson, who I learned yesterday is only a junior, led Cheverus with 18 in their win over Scarborough...Deering got 18 from Angelina Keo against Bonny Eagle...Caitlyn McCoy hit 5 3's and Leavitt beat Lincoln Academy...Madelyn Verrill's triple-double (11 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 steals) helped Pine Tree hold off a rally from Richmond...Valley got 21 each from Kirsten Bigelow and Madeline Hill in a big win over Dirigo...Piper Catanese's 18 was more than enough for York to beat Lake Region...Zeb Foster had 26 in Oceanside's win over Mt. Ararat.

Speaking of officials, you may have heard there's a shortage, but not just in basketball. There's a shortage in baseball too!

If you're interested in gaining the power to eject fans from a game. Or, you know, just do normal umpiring, there's trainings scheduled around the state and you can find out more at the link below.

SMUA - Join Us

2025 New Umpire Classes For those interested in becoming a certified high school baseball umpire, regional boards will be offering the following classes. Western Maine Baseball Umpire Association: Classes beginning Sunday, February 16th, 10 a.m. at Gorham Middle School Central Maine Board of

Join Us

Trainings in various regions start in February or March, depending on the location.

And speaking of unruly fans, there was a big fight in the stands of the VCU/St. Louis game last night.

People need to calm the hell down.

ESPN has a cool feature on our man Payton Pritchard.

The heave-making fourth-quarter star the Celtics need to make a repeat title run

Last season’s star-turn in the NBA Finals was a decade in the making for Payton Pritchard, who says a meeting with a six-time All-Star set him a path to NBA success and championship glory in Boston.

ESPNBaxter Holmes

For as (mostly) settled as B South is, B North is kind of a mes

We know Caribou is the 1 seed and Ellsworth is the 2. Other than that, it's chaos.

Orono might have the 3 seed and Hermon is clinging to the final bye

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