The Nokomis Regional High School girls basketball team wrapped up an undefeated regular season, winning all but three of their 18 regular season games by at least 10 points.
“But now the real fun begins,” Nokomis coach Kori Dionne said.
The high school basketball state tournaments get under way this week, beginning with preliminary round games Tuesday and Wednesday.
By Friday, teams across the state will converge on Portland, Bangor and Augusta for the start of regional quarterfinal action.
No. 2 Nokomis (18-0), the defending Eastern B champ, will play the winner of No. 7 Medomak (12-6) and No. 10 Winslow (10-8) at the Bangor Auditorium on Saturday at 9:05 a.m. Medomak Valley will host Winslow on Tuesday.
“We did our job to get there,” said Dionne, whose team lost to Leavitt in the Class B state championship game last season. “We avoided a prelim. But now it’s anybody’s ball game. When we get to the final eight, anybody can win it. But we’ve got a crew who knows what it’s like to be there.”
The Eastern A quarterfinals begin Friday at the Augusta Civic Center. The Cony girls (18-0) earned the top seed and will play either No. 8 Brewer (9-9) or No. 9 Bangor (7-11) on Friday at 8:30 p.m.
No. 3 Mt. Blue (12-6) will play No. 6 Skowhegan (11-7) — back in the tournament after a year’s absence — will open up the tournament at the Augusta Civic Center at 3 p.m. Friday. The teams split their two regular season meetings.
“We didn’t make the tournament last year so, obviously, we are very excited,” Skowhegan coach Heath Cowan said. “We’re starting to play a lot better. We’ll get the tournament started, which is nice because we don’t have to look to find a scrimmage.”
Other teams aren’t as fortunate.
The Madison girls (15-3) earned the second seed in Western C but won’t open tournament play until Tuesday, Feb. 22. Defending Class C state champ Hall-Dale (15-3) is the top seed.
The Rangeley girls (16-2) enter as the No. 2 seed in the Western D tournament and will play No. 7 Greater Portland Christian (8-9) in Augusta at 11:30 a.m. Monday.
Rangeley and Madison will play a scrimmage this week.
“It’s a long layover,” Rangeley coach Heidi Deery said. “We have a couple of scrimmages planned. We’re trying to scrimmage in other gyms. We want to get out on the road and travel a bit. We don’t want to get stale in our own gym.”
The Eastern A boys tournament in Augusta could be as wide open as any regional in the state.
No. 3 Mt. Blue (14-4) will play No. 6 Brunswick (11-7) at 4 p.m. Saturday. No. 4 Lawrence (12-6) will play No. 5 Bangor (13-5) at 8 p.m. Saturday.
No. 8 Cony (7-11) and No. 9 Erskine (7-11) will play a prelim game Wednesday for the right to face top-seeded Hampden (17-1) in a quarterfinal game at 9:30 p.m. Saturday.
In Eastern B, No. 6 Nokomis (13-5) will play No. 11 Waterville (10-8) in a prelim game Wednesday.
The winner will move to Bangor to face No. 3 Gardiner (16-2) at 5 p.m. Friday.
“Nokomis and Waterville played us tough,” Gardiner coach Jason Cassidy said. “We’ve scouted everybody. We’ll put some game plans together and be ready to go.”
Valley (14-4) is the No. 3 seed in Western D and plays No. 6 North Haven at 8:30 a.m. Saturday in Augusta.
The Madison boys (10-8) are the fifth seed in Western C and play No. 4 Hall-Dale at 7 p.m. Monday.
Bill Stewart — 621-5640
bstewart@centralmaine.com
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