Eighth grade cruises to AAU state championship
Firecrackers build on a successful spring, sweep AAU field
After cruising through pool play with victories over Black Bear North (49-9) and Blue Wave Levesque (60-9), the eighth-grade Firecrackers faced off against Bangor area Eastern Storm, coached by veteran Jason Coleman. The women in orange got out of the gate like Secretariat thanks to intense defensive pressure by Julz Colby, Serena Mower, and Brooke Obar forcing turnovers and leading to layups by Maggie Whitmore, Gabrielle Wener, and Colby. Jacqui Hamilton made her presence felt with two offensive rebounds for layups and a 14-0 lead before Eastern Storm got on the board with a 3. Camille Clement answered with two three’s of her own and the Firecrackers led 33-10 at halftime. In the second half the Firecrackers slowed the game down to conserve energy for the battles ahead and coasted to a 48-20 win. Whitmore and Clement led the scoring parade with 10 points each, Wener showed flashes of brilliance with nine points while Colby and Hamilton added seven and six, respectively. Obar played limited minutes due to a tender ankle but contributed four points and four rebounds, and Mower added a basket and a solid all around floor game, once again relishing the assignment of defending the opponents best player and limiting a very talented Brewer player to just six points.If the Firecrackers quarterfinal start resembled Secretariat, the semifinal looked more like Jumbo after Thanksgiving dinner and a long nap as the Firecrackers struggled against the YES! 1-3-1 zone and the basket appeared to have a lid on it. Whitmore was the only Firecracker to record more than one basket in the half as a frustrated team found themselves in the awkward position of being in a close game with a 23-18 halftime lead. After a YES! basket cut the deficit to 23-20, Mower calmly sank a three-pointer off an Emily Huntington assist followed by a creative finish at the rim by Colby and a power layup from Wener (Obar assist) and the lead grew to 30-20, forcing YES! to switch to man-to-man defense and the Firecrackers were able to run offense and cruise to a 44-27 victory. No Firecracker played especially well in this one but were led by Whitmore (14 and six rebounds), Mower (seven and two steals), Wener and Obar with six each, Colby with five, Clement with four, and Hamilton with two.
This was the worst performance by the eighth-graders in the tournament but they survived a game with poor shooting and still won comfortably thanks to an intense and disciplined defensive effort. The win set up a showdown with 2015 seventh-grade champion, Blue Wave.
As spectators lined the courts the final began with a bang as the orange exploded out of the gate with layups by Whitmore (3), Mower (2) Obar (2) courtesy of excellent passing from Wener and Colby forcing Blue Wave into a timeout due to a 16-0 deficit. Madison Blanche didn’t take long to make her presence felt when she checked into the game and immediately contributed two rebounds and two short jump shots before Clement made a backdoor layup (from Obar), a long three, and a short jump shot for seven points in a 90 second span. Hamilton ripped four rebounds down and continued her physical and aggressive play as the Firecrackers put 40 points on the board in the first half while only giving up 10. This is probably the most energetic and crisp half of basketball of the season for the young pups and it was a nice view of things to come in front of a good crowd. On display was suffocating defense, precision passing, accurate shooting, and very unselfish play. The second half went fast due to the running time rule and the Firecrackers finished with a decisive 50-20 win.
“Stonewall” Whitmore led the team with 14 points and eight rebounds and showed why she is considered one of the best eighth-graders in Maine. Clement bounced back from a wrist injury to finish with 11, Obar was outstanding scoring 10 to go with four assists, Golden Retriever-like Mower (four points) was excellent on both sides of the ball, while Colby was tremendous defending the ball with four steals and three assists leading to easy baskets for teammates. Madison Blanche (four points) rose to the occasion when the pressure was highest yet again to play very well on both sides of the ball and Hope Olson had her best game of the tournament with a tremendous blocked shot that brought back visions of Bill Cartwright and two beautiful finishes at the rim to go with three rebounds. Hamilton was a force in the paint again and Wener has emerged as one of the most promising players in the Firecracker program as she displayed her unique ability to run the floor, make three’s, rebound, and finish while being extremely versatile on defense. Huntington contributed key minutes all weekend as she continues to make up for lost early season time with a broken hand. Her effort on defense and smooth stroke from long range make her a needed piece to the puzzle.
All in all it was a special weekend as players and parents supported other Firecracker teams with great enthusiasm and the eighth-graders got a chance cheer for many other teams while benefitting from energetic support from younger teams and many of the HS players alike. It was a thrill for the aspiring high school players to have Emily Esposito, Alaina Birkel, Brie Wajer, Anna DeWolfe, Faith Blethen, McKenzie Holmes, and Emme Poulin sitting on their bench with vocal encouragement.