Hayden among many area players filling roles for CMCC women
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Buy a PrintAUBURN — This isn't Oak Hill anymore.
The players are bigger and faster, but for Carrie Hayden, the scene is a welcome change.
"The intensity level is so much higher, it's so much faster and the defense is so much tougher," Hayden said. "In high school, offense is everything. When you get to college, defense is everything. If you can't play defense, you sit the bench."
Hayden is a first-year player for Central Maine Community College this season, and will be looked upon to fill some pretty big shoes.
"We do have a lot of holes to plug," CMCC coach Mike Bridges said. "We lose an all-star in Tiffany Seams, and Michelle Holmquist, who's moving to Florida. Those are two humongous holes to fill. But, with that being said, we were voted in the preseason coaches poll to finish first in the league. Everybody picked us but me, but I think a lot of that is the respect the program has around the league. I think people know that, although we may start slowly, that come playoff time, our team is always ready to go. I feel that way right now. I feel we have a bunch of kids who can plug the holes."
Hayden, Bridges said, is one of those key players.
"I think Carrie Hayden is a young lady who can step in and take some of the pressure off of losing an all-star-caliber player in Michelle Holmquist," Bridges said. "She's going to take up some of that role."
Katie Martin, a third-year player for Bridges, who's been at CMCC for 13 years, is another of those players.
"As a third-year player, we really are counting on her to step up and play a bigger role," Bridges said.
Martin, formerly of Oxford Hills, and Hayden are just two of a handful of former area high school players charged with returning the Mustangs to the top. Sara Martin (Mt. Abram), Teira Durgin (Oxford Hills), Lindsey Henderson (Buckfield) and Christy McAuliffe (Lisbon) are four others.
"We have a really strong basketball program and tradition in the area," Durgin said. "We're playing with the same people and against them year 'round, and you get to know them, and that helps to see a lot of them here (at CMCC)."
Despite the departures, the Mustangs are the favorites to win the conference and advance to the USCAA national tournament again. That alone hangs a bit of extra pressure on the squad.
"We do only have three new players," Durgin said. "Most of us were around last year, and we know each other and play well together."
Hayden, Katie Martin and Tiffany Lougee (Foxcroft Academy) are the tallest women listed on the team's roster at 6 feet even. But what the team lacks in height, Bridges said, it makes up for in speed and shooting.
"I'm pleased with the way everything has gone so far," Bridges said. "We do have a prolific three-point shooter in Sara Martin, who was with us the second half of the year last year. She's still hitting threes from eight feet behind the arc. She's going to be one of our go-to people this year."
But the roles are not going to be defined, Bridges said, by height.
"If you're a big, you still need to be able to handle the ball," Bridges said. "If you're a big, you still have to guard quicker kids. It helps everyone expand their all-around game."
Given his dearth of local talent, and the fact that the squad returns several key role players from a successful 2008-09 squad, Bridges is cautiously optimistic.
"I think it's going to kind of mirror how we were last year," Bridges said. "I think we're going to have short-term pain, but we'll have long-term gain, and I think that come playoff time, I think we're going to be a team that nobody wants to play."
