The Comeback Kids

In the Game of the Day, the Old Town girls raced out to a 14-3 lead in Caribou. It was 17-9 after 1. But the Vikings would battle back. They got it to within 3 at the half and took the lead mid-way through the 3rd. From there, they traded punches. Old Town would extend the lead to 4 or 5 and Caribou would answer.

With 7.2 seconds left, Madelynne Deprey hit 2 free throws to give Caribou the lead, but Caribou would foul with 2.3 left. Taylor Loring hit both free throws to tie it and send it to OT.

Old Town would survive in overtime.

Things didn't look great for the Mt. Blue girls on Saturday. After one quarter, they were down 13-1 to Skowhegan. And it got as bad as 15-1. But the Cougars battled back. They went on an 8-0 to get back in the game, but they were still down 25-13 at the half. For a team that only averages 37.6 points a game, a 12-point deficit at the is daunting, to say the least.

After 3, they had cut the lead to 8, 32-24. A 6-1 run to start the 4th got them within 3 and suddenly, we've got a game. They tied it at the line with about 1:30 to go to complete the comeback on a foul that fouled out Skowhegan's Annabelle Morris. Things slowed way down after that. Skowhegan missed a 3 (I don't have a roster). Mt. Blue couldn't get a shot off and we got to overtime.

Mt. Blue has yet to lead. Skowhegan scored 1 point in the 4th quarter and their point guard has fouled out.

The Cougars took their first lead on a three in the first possession in overtime, then got a steal and lay-up and all of a sudden they've got a 5-point lead. It was all Mt. Blue after that. They win 47-37 in overtime in a game where they didn't lead for a second in regulation.

Kensley Malcore led the way with 21 points, 15 rebounds, and 4 blocks. Freshman Lauryn Northrop came off the bench to key the comeback. She was +22 on the game.

Sacopee Valley's Silas Nielsen broke out in a big way with a triple-double (10 points, 11 boards, and 10 blocks) and Dylan Capano had a double-double (14 points & 10 boards) in a win over Pine Tree.

Easton's Chase Flewelling notched a triple-double of 21 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists

Elsewhere...

Lilly Roy had 24 for Easton...Fort Kent's Lily Oliver had 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 10 steals...Tyler Abell hit 7 3s en route to 22 points as Mt. Blue beat Skowhegan. Evans Sterling added 24. Adam Fitzgerald had 26 for Skow...The Forest Hills girls finished with an 8-0 run to close out Buckfield...J.J. Wolfington's 18 led a short-handed Hampden over Camden. Zach McLaughlin spent the game in street clothes and a walking boot...The Madison boys used an 18-0 run to come all the way back down 20 at the Beach and beat the Seagulls by 10.

Telstar's Morgan Zetts joined the 1,000 point club this weekend.

Telstar didn't have a team during Zetts' freshman year, so she was able to do this in 3 seasons.

And, yes, there have been a lot of new members in the club lately.

The Press Herald's Drew Bonifant has a nice piece on why female athletes are more likely to get knee injuries.

There's charts and graphs!

The tournament is fast-approaching and that means it's almost time for the Maine Basketball Rankings Media Guide.

If you're new here, this is an example from last year:

I'm working on a couple of tweaks for this year, but this is the gist. Don't worry, it comes with an explanation.

If you're a paid subscriber, you'll get a PDF of this for every team in the tournament. Every. Team.

This is awesome.

If you missed the Marcus Smart tribute video for his return to the Garden, you're gonna want to watch it.

Let's go to A South, where we have some seeding to settle.

The GNG boys have basically locked up the 1 seed. The Tourney Odds have them at 100%. Behind the Heberts, they have the highest-scoring team in Class A and the best scoring differential.

They'll head to North Berwick for their first (ever?) matchup against Noble.

Noble is trying to stay out of the 4/5 game in their first year in A South (although that would likely mean a matchup with a Kennebunk team they beat by 22 a month ago).

The Tourney Odds think they have a 24.1% chance of getting the 3, which is less than their odds of winning this game. So they need to win out and get help. But the first step is winning this one.

Can they keep the Heberts at bay?

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