Girls’ basketball worshippers in Dixfield, Canton, Peru and Carthage probably don’t realize how perilously close they game to losing the latest link in their championship chain to a different hardwood floor.

What’s in a last name? Well, let’s just say nobody expected Alexa Kaubris to set aside her lineage and swap red Reeboks for pink slippers. But she gave it some thought.

Thank Dad, Dirigo fans, for whatever influence he wielded over his diversely talented daughter back in fifth grade.

“She was doing pretty well with both dancing and basketball,” Matt Kaubris said. “We (he and Alexa’s mother, Pam) kind of told her that if she wanted to excel that she’d probably have to concentrate on one.”

Basketball was a safe choice. Dad, after all, provided a championship pedigree, first as an unselfish guard on a legendary mid-1970s team at the old Rumford High School, then as the coach who molded a supporting cast and let Andy Bedard steer the ship to a state championship at Mountain Valley in 1994.

If anything, Alexa lives even larger on the court. In four years as a starter at Dirigo, she can recall more state championships celebrated (two) than losses endured (one).

Dirigo has won 114 consecutive regular-season games, a streak that began when Alexa was making the transition from elementary to junior high school. Last Saturday, seven seconds into a home game against Monmouth, Kaubris cashed in a crisp pass from Brooke Weston and exceeded the career 1,000-point threshold.

Picking up garbage’

Wild stuff for a model teammate who never met a shot she didn’t prefer to pass up for another shooter’s benefit.

“I have a different sort of game. I’m that weird, in-between sort of player,” said Alexa. “I pretty much pick up the garbage points.”

Never has trash disposal looked so artsy. Watch Kaubris play and you’ll see she didn’t so much give up one childhood hobby as find a creative means to combine two passions.

Her style of basketball is interpretive movement. She runs the floor with lithe abandon, playing swivel-headed defense, anticipating opponents’ next moves as if they’re beats to musical accompaniment in her head.

OK, so her game’s a little bit hip-hop and a little bit rock n’ roll, too. Consider the first quarter of Monday night’s bout of road rage in Bethel against Telstar.

Before Kaubris nailed her first field goal, she’d already dished out three assists, forced two turnovers and drawn an offensive foul by catching a flying forearm between the 2′ and 3′ on the front of her blue jersey. After that final ode to self-sacrifice, she bounced up and greeted teammate Michelle Holmquist with a Red Sox-inspired secret handshake.

Dad could help 7-year-old Alexa compensate when her shots couldn’t reach the rim at the community center. Dad could help her learn a left-handed lay-up in middle school. Dad can rebound when Alexa pushes herself now to practice dozens of those troublesome 17-foot jumpers.

As for the footwork, the craftiness and the toughness, Dad couldn’t teach it. Nobody can. Much of it certainly came from her mom, a high school track star in her own right.

“(But) I think my court awareness comes from him,” said Alexa.

Healthy involvement

Dad was the strong, silent type on the court. Matt estimates that he “probably had more assists than points,” racking up roughly 600 of each in a three-year career.

Unlike last Saturday night, when a crush of camcorders preserved Alexa’s milestone, technology was scarce when Rumford ruled Class A. So Matt avoids snide remarks about the long hair and short shorts.

“Yeah, mysteriously those films of ’77 have disappeared,” Alexa said. “I’ve only seen a few clips. No complete games.”

Matt Kaubris still coaches youth travel teams, but you’d never know it from his demeanor in the bleachers. Dad steers clear and lets program architect Gavin Kane do his thing.

That’s been good practice for Alexa’s next recital. She’s preparing to pack her diverse game for the 90-minute move to Bowdoin College in Brunswick, where winning should stay habitual. Coach Stefanie Pemper led Bowdoin to a runner-up finish in NCAA Division III last winter.

“We’re looking forward to the next four years. These four have been a wonderful experience,” Matt said.

A father-daughter dance they’ll never forget.

Kalle Oakes is a staff writer. His e-mail is [email protected].