Mark Simpson looks around from his coaches box on the Livermore Falls sidelines and sees a Mountain Valley Conference that hasn’t changed much since when he coached back

Mark Simpson looks around from his coaches box on the Livermore Falls sidelines and sees a Mountain Valley Conference that hasn’t changed much since when he coached a few decades ago.

Madison’s Al Veneziano, Mt. Abram’s Doug Lisherness and Winthrop’s Ray Convery are all still coaching and the MVC is as exciting and competitive as ever. It is making Simpson thrilled about being back coaching after a lengthy time away.

“Class C basketball is the best,” said Simpson, after Tuesday’s nail-biter of a win over top-seeded Madison. “There’s something about that small town attitude. Everyone comes out to the games. There’s a lot of excitement in the stands. That’s what I really missed.”

Simpson coached the Andies from 1988 to 1991. He also coached the Mt. Blue girls for three years in the 1990’s. Thus far, his return has been a great success. His Andies are one of the teams to watch in Western C. Livermore Falls is 5-3 with wins over the defending Class C state champs from Jay, the top-ranked Bulldogs and Class B’s Mountain Valley. Two of Livermore’s losses have been narrow ones to Dirigo and St. Dom’s.

The Andies have proven to be a stellar defensive club and a team that can challenge most anybody in the MVC. They’ve averaged just 31 points against and are now gaining confidence offensively.

“It’s been a joy,” said Simpson. “To get the kids to buy into what I was doing, they started right in during the summer. They bought into the defensive play of not taking chances and playing your spots and looking to the help side.”

Simpson has a group of hard-working players that are still learning. Hannah Therrien and Kathrynn Lake are the only seniors. He’s still building their confidence in themselves on the basketball court but can see the progress already.

“We’re looking good,” said Simpson. “This has been a great group of girls. They’re field hockey players that play basketball. I’m just trying to convince them that they’re good basketball players. Finally, I feel like they’re starting to buy into that.”

The Andies won nine games and lost in the preliminary round a year ago. One of their goals this year is to get back to Augusta. Ranked fifth currently in Western C, the Andies are on their way toward that goal. They have some tough matchups ahead, including a rematch with Jay Saturday, but Livermore Falls has the comfort of home court to their benefit down the stretch.

“We played six of our first seven games on the road,” said Simpson. “We’re finally coming back to our own gym. And the girls are getting more and more confidence as it goes.”

Fresh faces

Doug Lisherness wasn’t exactly expecting a rebuilding year at Mt. Abram but circumstances forced that hand a bit this winter. Between injuries, transfers and a couple players opting not to play, the Roadrunners went from a club that had a solid core returning to a young team with little varsity experience. It’s made for a challenging year for Mt. Abram, which has just one win, but the Roadrunners are showing signs of great things to come. 

Lisherness has just three seniors, Kylie Rolbiecki, Heather Campbell and Amanda Richards. Mikayla Burbank is also a senior but has missed the entire year to a knee injury. Colleen Shields and Dani Smith are the lone juniors. That has left the Roadrunners with a team built around eight underclassmen, including seven freshmen.  The team has been through some growing pains this year but show great potential.

“I’m excited about the future with these freshmen,” said Lisherness.

The Roadrunners have shown little fear on the offensive end. There’s nothing tentative about them shooting, which is exactly what Lisherness wants. While some coaches will tell kids not to shoot, he encourages them to do just that. When the shots begin to fall, that makes the Roadrunners a threat.

“The girls knew if they don’t shoot it, I’m going to pull them out,” said Lisherness. “I’ll pull them out for not shooting.”

Turnovers and mental breakdowns has been the downfall for the young Roadrunners but having an experienced ball-handler like Rolbiecki in the backcourt has helped Mt. Abram significantly.

“Kylie keeps them working out there,” said Lisherness. “She’s a leader out there.”

Mt. Abram will continue to learn against a tough schedule down the stretch and continue to be a team to watch in the MVC’s future.

“All those team have already beat us but a lot of those game were pretty close,” said Lisherness of teams like Madison, Dirigo, Livermore Falls, Lisbon, Jay, Mountain Valley, St. Dom’s and Carrabec.