Foxcroft Academy to be part of summer basketball tournament celebrating Title IX

By Larry Mahoney, Bangor Daily News Staff

BANGOR — The two teams that met in the thrilling state Class B schoolgirl basketball final this past season are among the 12 teams that will be competing in the John Bapst Memorial High School Title IX Invitational basketball tournament at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor on July 8-9.

Ellsworth edged Spruce Mountain of Jay 57-56 in the Portland Expo to win its first ever state championship.

Those two teams will be joined by host John Bapst of Bangor, Camden Hills of Rockport, Penobscot Valley of Howland, Foxcroft Academy of Dover-Foxcroft, Mount Desert Island, Hodgdon, Caribou, Skowhegan, Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln and Calais.

John Bapst head coach Marisa Kelley and her assistant, Matt Smith, had wanted to come up with something to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Title IX and this tournament came about.

Title IX was passed in June of 1972 and is a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance.

“Since I came on staff on John Bapst, I wanted to find a way to put girls basketball on the map around the state,” said Kelley, who just finished her third season at the helm. “We were looking for an opportunity in the summertime.”

She pointed out that most teams only get to play in the Cross Center when “it really counts” during the tournament and now they will have the opportunity to play in it in a less stressful environment.

“This also allows our youth to get in there and watch their role models and get excited about it,” said Kelley.

Each team will play two games on Saturday and the field will be pared to eight for a single-elimination tournament on Sunday based on Saturday’s results with the championship game to cap the tourney on Sunday.

The Darlings Auto Group will be the primary sponsor and the teams will play two 16-minute halves instead of the usual four eight-minute quarters and there will be a 35-second shot clock. 

The shot clock is not used during high school games in the state of Maine.

“That will keep things rolling and get them to experience basketball at the next level,” said Kelley, referring to the fact there is a 30-second shot clock in women’s college basketball.

The officiating crews will be mostly women.

“It should be a lot of fun,” said Ellsworth coach Andy Pooler.

Six of the 12 teams finished in the top four in the Heal Points standings in their respective classes and five of the teams won at least 15 regular season games: Hodgdon and Penobscot Valley (both 17-1) in Class C North, Spruce Mountain (17-1) in B South and Caribou and Ellsworth (both 15-3) in B North.

There are two Class A North teams in Skowhegan (7-11) and Camden Hills (10-8).

MDI (10-8), Foxcroft (9-9) and John Bapst (8-10) are in B North and Mattanawcook Academy  (13-5) and Calais (11-7) are in C North.

The John Bapst group has also partnered with the Special Olympics to have a unified basketball game starting at noon on Saturday. There will be two players from each of the 12 teams who will be playing for one of the unified teams.

Tickets will only be available at the door. Kids under 10 get in free and all others will pay $8 per day or $12 for a weekend pass.