The Heart of a Champion

After 3 quarters, it looked like the Old Town girls might exact some revenge from their loss in last year's Regional Final. They'd used a 12-2 run to turn a back-and-forth game into a 6-point lead after 3. But, the Champs are the Champs for a reason. Ellsworth answered with an 8-0 run to take the lead and turned it into a 17-6 final quarter to stay undefeated.

Chris Lessner has a nice writeup for Eastern Maine Sports.

Jaffray helps Ellsworth girls knock off Old Town in battle of unbeatens

Grace Jaffray had a game-high 28 points on Wednesday night, as the Ellsworth Eagles outscored the Old Town Coyotes 17-6 in the fourth quarter in a 53-48 Class B girls basketball win in a battle of …

Eastern Maine SportsPublished by %s

Grace Jaffray led Ellsworth with 28. Sage Evans had 17 & 13 for Old Town.

Ryan Sudol was there with highlights.

Up north, Hodgdon had a game-winner in OT.

That's David Tuttle calling game for Hodgdon.

Aroostook County Hoops has another angle of the shot over on their essential Facebook page.

Also, it looks like WHOU has a new Twitter handle. Hopefully that means more highlights.

Elsewhere...

The Houlton boys got a 32-5 deficit down to 4, but ultimately came up short on the road against John Bapst...Jazmine Pingree's 22 helped Spruce give Maranacook their first loss...Will Duke and Nolan Ames dropped 28 & 27 respectively as Camden outlasted Skowhegan and Adam Fitzgerald's 27...Morgan Cunningham had 34 in Cony's win over Messo...Tatum French had 13 & 10 for Boothbay...Anna Oliver dropped 22 on Fort Kent...

In a Heal Point quirk that you'll either love or hate, depending on how you feel about Heal Points, the Camden girls are now in first place in A North with a record of 5-4.

It's pretty simple. The teams Camden beat have a combined 14 wins (5 come from B), while the teams Lawrence beat only have 13 (all in A, plus they get that point for winless Messalonskee).

And because, of course they are, the Camden boys are in 3rd place at 4-5.

Time & Score: it's not just for players!

I've seen a couple of games this year where a team was clearly trying to foul to stop the clock and couldn't get a call. Invariably they'd try harder, the other team would get upset at a hard foul, and then tensions start to escalate.

If you missed it yesterday, Thomas Curtis' latest dispatch from AA is out.

The AA Round-Up: January 2nd, 2024

Thomas Curtis is back with a tour around AA

Maine Basketball RankingsThomas Curtis

Let's check in on Emily Archibald and Providence.

Kennebunk's own scored a season-high 10 points to go with 9 boards on the night. Last night was her 10th consecutive start.

To the surprise of no one, Leavitt's Noah Carpenter is your Gatorade Football POTY.

It's a "Battle of the Bridge" as Mt. Ararat hosts Brunswick in girls basketball.

For years, this wasn't much of a game, but Mt. Ararat has really elevated its program over the last couple of years under the guidance of Julie Petrie and now finds itself as one of the contenders in A South. They're 6-1 on the year, with wins over GNG and Camden, but are coming off a loss Tuesday at Deering.

Brunswick, of course, is a perennial power in the region, with their only loss coming at the hands of Oxford Hills just before Christmas.

The scene should be electric for a rivalry game between two of the top teams in A South, a region that features 10 teams in the top 42. There's going to be a good team in this region that doesn't make the tournament and Heal Points will be at a premium.

This should be a good one.

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