Rookies having impact in prime time
By Kevin Mills
Staff Writer

Christina Mosher found herself matched up against one of the KVAC’s most established players, Waterville’s Tracy Nale.

She was a player who would certainly give Mosher trouble. For a player in junior high, it was quite the challenge during summer basketball. That was the point.

“She got a little frustrated because Tracy is pretty quick,” said Mt. Blue girls’ basketball coach Jeannine Beaulieu. “I told her by the time you get to high school, you’re going to be matched up with players like this. These are the kids you’re going to have to stop.”

That early preparation is paying off. Mosher is one of the Cougars youngest and brightest, and she’s not the only freshman making an impact. Edward Little’s Brittney French, St. Dom’s Abby Gilbert, Jay’s Kaylie DeMillo and Telstar’s Abby Wentworth are establishing themselves as prominent players.

And those are just a few freshmen doing big things this year. Unbeaten Dirigo has gotten regular contributions from Shannon Daley, Kathrine Gagne and Katie Hutchinson off the bench. Mt. Abram’s Logahn Walker and Brittany York and Winthrop’s Katie Pushard have been part of their team’s success. Young programs at Buckfield, Monmouth, Leavitt and Livermore Falls are building around promising freshmen.

The idea of working in a newcomer slowly isn’t too prevalent these days. Many are pushed into larger roles by need or because their talents are such that they can’t be left on the bench. The rookies are rising to the occasion.

“I would hope that this is a trend that fundamentals are being taught,” said Beaulieu.

Players like Mosher, DeMillo, Wentworth, Gilbert and French have hit the varsity level without skipping a beat. Their skills and poise have made them worthy starters.

“I felt very prepared,” said French. “I played soccer at the varsity level. So that made me very prepared. Being on varsity, the pace is a lot different. There were older girls that I had to play with. So that definitely helped a lot playing soccer.”

French had played summer basketball with the current crop of EL players. That prepared her.

“Getting the mental part of it is the hardest thing,” said French. “Knowing what is expected of you and what you have to do to play at the varsity level.”

Beaulieu, who also has guard Sandra Moloney and forward Bonnie Silkman joining varsity, knew she had some promising young players at the junior high level and wanted to help pave their way.

“I started doing that the summer going into their eighth grade year,” said Beaulieu. “They were much more advanced than the seventh graders. I brought them up to the high school level to play with us.”

While summer basketball and AAU have helped to develop younger players, the decrease in participants in high school programs has created the opportunity.

The MVC has no senior-laden teams. From top to bottom, that conference is made up of mostly underclassmen. That has created the need for many freshmen to step into roles this year.

“Until our league gets depth, this is what you’ll see,” said Jay’s Chris Bessey. “We’re going through that transition where these classes in every school enjoy basketball and spend a lot of time on it on their way through.”

Burnout at the younger levels might help to explain the numbers, but basketball is vulnerable because time commitment is so much greater. Players need to devote much attention to developing skills. There are less spots to compete for and no place to hide for players that don’t have the ability. It makes it easy for many to decide the price isn’t worth paying. While the number of participants fall, players that do dedicate themselves so fully find more opportunity as a result.

“The commitment level has grown in basketball with AAU and all that,” said Bessey. “If a kid doesn’t want to spend all that time in AAU, they’re going to struggle. (DeMillo) plays a lot of AAU. When you play against competition like that, and you’re playing so much basketball, she was definitely prepared coming in.”

Having the physical attributes is only part of the equation for newcomers. What allows some of them to stand out is their drive and passion.

When French realized that she’d be forced to be a go-to player on a rebuilding team, she didn’t shy away from it.

“Personally, I like it that way,” said French. “I love being a leader, and I don’t see any difference. I’m just like everyone else in high school.”

Mosher has come off the bench for most games and has started some. Moloney has served as a backup point guard.

“An important part of the varsity level is having that mental game as well as the physical game,” said Beaulieu. “That just speaks to the level of competitiveness of these freshmen across the board. They’re not worried about if the coach is going to get mad at them.”

Bessey says DeMillo has the makeup of a gamer. When she got beat for a key basket against Wiscasset, he gave her an earful. She went and tied the game in the final seconds, forcing overtime where the Tigers went on to win.

“She came back to me and got in my face, ‘Is that good enough for you,'” he said. “That’s what you want from your players, to be able to take it and understand that you’re not trying to personally attack them.”

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