Clippers and Capers and Bears, Oh My!
In the Game of the Day, Yarmouth got some wind in their sails in the 3rd quarter, turning a small lead into a double-digit margin. GNG rallied in the 4th quarter, but it wasn't enough.
The win moves the Clippers to 4th in B South. They are now 92% to get a bye.
In Cape Elizabeth, as soon as they managed to get the seals back in the ocean, there was a leak in the roof and since there's not a bunch of extra time left in the schedule, they opted to give up a home game and travel to Freeport instead.
The Capers started slowly--Freeport jumped out to a 18-7 lead after one and led 33-19 in the 3rd, but then Cape caught fire behind Owen Tighe, rallying to win by 2 on the road.
In Wells, the Warriors rallied down 11 to Greely to win by 6.
The win moves Wells to first in B South (the MPA still has them 3rd), leaping over 2 unbeaten teams. Heal Points!
They started the day with a 2% chance to get the 1 seed and Spruce and Oceanside each have 7 games left (in 12 days!), so this is probably temporary, but it's worth monitoring.
Elsewhere...
Landen Johnson dropped 29 for OOB as they beat Traip...Natalie Beaudoin had 20 for Lewiston...Elise McNair had 37 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 steals as the OOB girls avenged an Opening Night loss...Julissa McBarron's 22 led Sanford past Gorham...Nico Kirby had 23 for Waynflete...The Mountain Valley boys beat Monmouth in double OT.
If you haven't been following the Big 10, Mackenzie Holmes and Indiana have been on a tear.
You have to imagine Indiana jumps up in the next AP Poll and is probably a 1 seed come March?
HerHoopStats.com has Holmes 5th in the country in Win Shares and it looks like 3rd in PER.
Put her
This season is the 50th anniversary of Title IX and Brewer is doing something cool for tonight's game.
If you're in the Wells area and are looking for a good pasta dinner, you could do a lot worse than this.
A good bus driver is one of the most underrated elements of a quality program. Best wishes to Richard in his fight against cancer.
The Stax Index (the formula that determines the Game of the Day) doesn't factor in the importance of a game in the Heal Points and maybe it should, although that seems...hard. Really hard. So you could have a game with a really high Stax Index where both teams have locked up the 1 seed and they're really playing for bragging rights. We don't have that situation today, exactly, but we do have a situation where the back-up GOTD looks a lot more interesting.
The Lincoln Academy Eagles, long the cellar-dwellers of B South, have come to life this year. They're 9-4 and currently slot in as hosting a play-in game with a 22% chance of going directly to the Expo.
For that to happen, they'll need to beat Maranacook, who has one of the widest ranges of outcomes in the state. They are 7-6 and could still get the 1 seed! They could also miss the tournament entirely. They are 62% to get a bye and 99.6% to make the tournament. Are they a sleeper or are they on the road in the play-in round?
We're about to find out.
A week or so ago, A South looked like it might be a real battle to the end, but Falmouth may have taken control of that with their big win over Westbrook. They're now 84% to get the 1 seed, which is far from a lock, but they're certainly the team to beat.
What could really put it out of reach would be a win today over Thornton Academy.
TA has a stranglehold on the 1 seed in AA South. They're 94% to get the 1, even after the loss to Gorham.
This will be your classic "good offense vs. good defense" game. The Navigators held Westbrook to 24 points, which probably is not going to happen against the 7th best offense in the state. Will Falmouth have enough offense to keep up?
Either way, the winner of this is probably the top seed in their region. Maybe the loser too.
The rest of today's schedule is after the jump