They’ve been talking about this game all season. Ever since the first day of practice, everyone anticipated a Western Class B girls’ showdown between defending state champ York and fast-shooting Leavitt.
And it’s finally here.
The schools will play for the regional championship at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Cumberland County Civic Center.
Both teams are 20-0, and York has won 42 consecutive games.
It should be interesting. York allowed an average of just over 28 points per game during the regular season and held Greely to 15 points in the semifinals. Leavitt averaged nearly 80 points during the regular season.
“The (topic) has come up a couple of times,” said Rick Clark, the long-time York coach. “It came up before the tournament, and I told the girls that before we met Leavitt, we had to win our first game. Then I told them before we met Leavitt we had to beat Greely.
“I was a little worried we were going to be thinking about that (in the semifinals). But we didn’t.”
The teams scouted each other numerous times during the regular season.
Clark saw Leavitt live twice and on television once. He sent an assistant coach to watch them play another time.
“And I know she (Leavitt Coach Tammy Anderson) saw us more,” he said. “She’s got three notebooks full of notes on us.”
Whatever happens, said Clark, “there won’t be many surprises for her or for us. I think it will be a great game. I hope it’s the kind of game that everyone has been hoping for.”
NICOLE TAYLOR scored 11 points in York’s 46-15 semifinal win over Greely, becoming the school’s all-time leading scorer. She now has 1,419 points. Lani Boardman was the previous record-holder with 1,413.
“It’s a great honor,” said Taylor. “But I’m just excited to be playing in Saturday’s game.”
Taylor said Boardman’s name means basketball in York.
“Everyone knows what type of player Lani Boardman was,” said Taylor. “At the school, when you mention basketball, it’s Lani Boardman.”
SHOULD TODAY’S storm postpone the Western Class A girls’ semifinals at the Cumberland County Civic Center, the regional championships will spill over into next week.
Maine Principals’ Association officials said the plan is to keep the Class B girls’ and boys’ regional championships as scheduled Saturday at the Civic Center, at 2 p.m. and 3:45 p.m.
And if the Class A girls’ semifinals are postponed, they will be played Saturday night at 7 and 9.
The Western Class A girls’ and boys’ regional finals would then be moved to Monday, most likely at 6 and 8 p.m.
Gerry Durgin, the Gorham High athletic director and MPA representative at the Civic Center, said they will do everything they can to play the semifinal games tonight.
According Larry Labrie of the MPA, the Eastern Class A finals at the Augusta Civic Center would be moved to Monday if they are postponed today.
IT SEEMS as though Leavitt’s Courtney Anderson and her younger sister, Kristen, look to shoot as soon as they cross midcourt.
That’s a slight exaggeration, of course, but the Andersons sure do like to shoot 3-pointers, which have become a staple of Leavitt’s offense.
Courtney jokingly points out that it’s her sister, a sophomore, who likes to let it fly from well behind the NBA 3-point arc. On the Cumberland County Civic Center court, there’s a 3-point circle for high school games and a 3-point circle for the pros.
When it was suggested that a few of her 3-point attempts against Lake Region in the Western Class B semifinals Thursday were at least three feet beyond the NBA arc, Courtney quickly set the record straight.
“That’s not me,” she said. “That’s my sister.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
