FA basketball girls surge

By Ernie Clark
Staff Writer

DOVER-FOXCROFT — The Foxcroft Academy girls basketball team has shaken off a slow start to its season to emerge right in the middle of the Class B North playoff race as the midpoint of its regular-season schedule approaches.

Coach Blake Smith’s club entered Wednesday’s 2:30 p.m. home game against Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln with a 4-3 record and a top-eight seed in the division — which would mean no worse than a home playoff game if the season ended at this point.

Joseph Cyr Lunging for the ball  — Foxcroft Academy’s Grace Bickford, right, while Houlton’s Chelsea Gentle looks on during Monday afternoon’s game in Houlton. The Ponies fell 53-41.

But the Ponies have even higher aspirations for the second half of the season.

“Originally that was my plan to be in the top eight,” said Smith, “but I’m really getting kind of greedy now. I’d like to get to the top four.

Foxcroft won four straight games after season-opening losses to Ellsworth and John Bapst of Bangor, and during the last three games of that streak yielded an average of just 31.7 points per game.

“We’re playing better basketball than we did in those first two games right now,” said Smith, whose Ponies’ winning streak was ended Monday in a 53-41 loss at defending Class C state champion Houlton.

“We’re taking better care of the basketball. One of the things I chirp on them about is every possession being precious, and we had 26 or 28 turnovers in that first game we played but were down to 11 in our last game.”

“We’re getting a lot better looks offensively and our defense is stepping up a little bit. We’re playing good man-to-man defense and we’re holding these teams in the 30’s.”

Foxcroft’s overall height — nine of the 15 players in the program stand at least 5-foot-9 — has proven beneficial to the team’s defense and rebounding efforts, with 5-10 junior Abby Simpson, 5-10 senior Madison Chadbourne and 5-9 junior Grace Bickford among the catalysts.

“We’ve got very good post play from Abby Simpson and Madison Chadbourne, and Grace Bickford can play everywhere,” said Smith. “She can post up with anybody and still come out on the perimeter and help us.

“Caribou (during a 66-49 FA win on Dec. 12) tried to play man to man against us because they felt that was the only way they could keep us off the boards,” Smith said. “But we’ve been able to get multiple looks. We do a good job of crashing the boards and getting offensive rebounds.”

Foxcroft’s ability to secure a top-four finish to the regular season — and the first-round playoff bye that comes with it — likely will depend on how the Ponies fare in a series of games against fellow Class B contenders Mount Desert Island, Ellsworth, Presque Isle and Orono as well as in a pair of games against current Class C North leader Dexter.

“We’ve really turned it around,” said Smith. “The chemistry is much better, they like playing together and are having fun, and fun equates to winning.”