The Hall-Dale girls basketball team are off and running with a new head coach.

Laurie Rowe, who previously coached the school’s junior high program, is the new varsity coach this season. She takes over for O.J. Jaramillo, who coached the Bulldogs for two seasons, including a 22-0 campaign in 2021-22 that culminated with the Class C title.

“It’s definitely really exciting, (at times) overwhelming, stressful,” Rowe said. “But I think (the team) has really challenged me, and it’s made me a better coach. I’ve coached a lot of travel basketball and middle school basketball. It’s a huge jump to coach varsity basketball, especially with these skilled of players. It’s been really great, but I have a lot to learn this season.”

The Bulldogs started the season in fine form on Dec. 12, when it beat Waterville 92-25. Junior center Jade Graham led Hall-Dale with 22 points, while senior guard Hayden Madore added 16. Sierra Gibbons and Jenna Lee each added 10 points in the game for the Bulldogs.

“I’m happy to see them play team basketball,” Rowe said. “They’re really starting to come together and play as a team and distribute the ball. I preach all the time, ‘distribute the ball to get the ball.’ They’re really working at that.”

“With a new coaching staff and a semi-young team, I’m glad we started the season off with a win,” Graham added. “We just really needed that to keep on pushing (forward). … I think it’s really refreshing to have a whole new coaching staff. With also being a female-dominated staff, too, it’s just a different connection than it was before. Our group of girls are actually working together and just ready to play.”

Olivia Bourque is an assistant coach this season.

Hall-Dale boasts a veteran roster, including several players who competed on the 21-2022 Class C title team

“We’re definitely fast,” Madore said. “We’re very fast, and we can transition. And our defense (is a strength). We’ve always been a better defensive team, even in that state game. I think if we just run (against) every single team, and even our half-court sets are getting better with our length and our shooters.”

Rowe said she’s also happy with the team’s depth Hall-Dale.

“Our bench is eight or nine people deep, with people who have played together for years and years,” Rowe said. “Just to have that bench is just amazing, to have all those players and not really lose too much when you put them on the floor.”

Last season, Hall-Dale went 16-5, falling to North Yarmouth Academy in the C South semifinals.

 

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The Winthrop girls basketball team is getting tested early this season.

The Ramblers (1-1) rolled to a 72-16 victory over Boothbay on Dec.9, before falling 45-42 in a tight contest with NYA on Dec. 12.

Winthrop’s scheduled home game against Traip Academy on Tuesday was washed out by Monday’s storm, which brought power outages through the area.

“The biggest thing (with storm cancellations) is it knocks you out of the routine you’ve been in,” Winthrop head coach John Baehr said. “We’re fortunate that we had practice on Saturday, but it just takes you out of the routine. The good thing is, it’s early in the season. I think we might have to cram some games in (at some point).”

The schedule doesn’t get easier for the Ramblers, who finished 13-7 last season and reached the regional quarterfinals. They host defending Class C champion Old Orchard Beach — which knocked the Ramblers out of the playoffs last season — on Thursday. Winthrop then plays Hall-Dale at the Augusta Civic Center on Dec. 27.

“We’ve got a mini-gauntlet, which is fine,” Baehr said. “We’ll adjust and run with it. That’s the one thing about our kids, we deal with adversity very well. You just roll with what the cards that you’re dealt with.”

The Ramblers return junior guards Madeline Wagner and Ella Rice, both of whom were Mountain Valley Conference honorable mention all-stars last season.

 

• • •

 

Messalonskee and Hampden Academy got the preseason hype in Class A North boys basketball this season. Although those teams are certainly still contenders, the most impressive team in the early going has been Mt. Blue.

The Cougars are 3-0 with all three wins coming against noteworthy opponents in Nokomis, Edward Little and Messalonskee. They’ve done it largely on the back of senior Evans Sterling, one of the top players in central Maine and possibly anywhere in the state.

“He’s just been playing unbelievable for us these first few games, and I wish more people around the state could be exposed to him,” said Mt. Blue head coach Troy Norton said of Sterling. “He was a great player for us last year, but this year, he’s just taken it to another level completely.”

As a junior last year, Sterling was an all-Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference first-team as he averaged 17.6 points, 6 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 3 steals per game. Even on a Mt. Blue team highlighted by a large, experienced senior class, he emerged as the top option and guided the Cougars to a 12-7 season.

On a younger Mt. Blue team this season, Sterling, as Norton said, has elevated his game even more. He’s currently averaging 22.0 points and 9.0 assists per game for the Cougars, whose early success has been largely due to the senior’s elite athleticism and growing role on a less-experienced squad.

“His defense, rebounding and passing have really improved,” Norton said. “Teams are trying to double-team him, but it still isn’t fair sometimes. He’s just really put in the work to get better, and it’s made the guys around him better and made our team better.”

 

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AROUND THE AREA: Class C South boys basketball’s preseason favorites have done as expected this year with Richmond (4-0), Mt. Abram (3-0) and Monmouth Academy all strong in the early going. Madison is also 3-0 despite the loss of a 1,000-point scorer (Callan Franzose) from last year’s team. … Although the Valley boys started 1-2, what it’s done in the early going has been thoroughly impressive. Valley lost just 49-48 to Richmond in the Dec. 9 season opener and 57-47 to Mt. Abram last Tuesday. The Cavaliers will face Richmond again Dec. 27 as part of the Capital City Hoops Classic. … Speaking of the Capital City Hoops Classic, next week’s holiday tournament has plenty of other tantalizing action. Games next Wednesday include boys and girls battles between Cony and Lawrence, while next Thursday’s action pits the Messalonskee boys against Skowhegan and the Hall-Dale boys against Winthrop.

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High school schedule and scores for Dec. 20-21