Sabine hits historic mark

Oak Hill’s Maggie Sabine made history Tuesday with her 1,000th point in a win over Rockland.

Sabine became just the second female to reach the mileston in Oak Hill history. Patty Higgins was the first to do so when she played between 1983-85.

Sabine finished with 21 points and seven rebounds as the Raiders improved to 5-2. The senior forward needed just 12 points going into the game and hit a jump shot early in the second half to put her over the mark.

Sabine is the second local KVAC all-star to reach the milestone this year. Leavitt’s Courtney Anderson scored her 1,000th point last month.

Eddies rolling

After beating previously unbeaten Hampden Tuesday night, the 6-0 Edward Little girls’ basketball team surged into the top spot in Eastern A. EL, however, gets another mighty test Friday night with a game in Bath. The Red Eddies face 8-0 Morse in a battle of the two tops teams in the standings.

Morse had the makings of a contender this year with veterans like senior forward Tarra Burr and junior guard Tori Field. The Shipbuilder bolstered their roster with two Danish exchange students. Nikoline Ostergaard and Emma Block have helped make Morse a serious threat in Eastern A. Ostergaard is a 6-foot post player that has been dominating this season. She’s average over 20 points per game and eight boards.

She’ll make for a difficult matchup for EL, which has a young and inexperienced post game. The Red Eddies will then have a makeup game with Brunswick (4-2) on Monday, another team with significant size.

Rangeley fights on

Eighth-graders don’t expect to play high school varsity basketball, period. The Maine Principals’ Association allows it only in Class D, where the prevailing community school aspect makes it possible and the tiny enrollments make it necessary.

Or as in Rangeley’s case Tuesday night at Buckfield, the difference between playing and possibly forfeiting a game.

Rangeley boarded the bus with seven available players for its girls’ game. Six eventually stepped on the floor, and two of those were junior high students.

The Lakers’ four most experienced players stayed on the court all 32 minutes for coach Heidi Deery. Eighth-grader Taylor Esty played most of the game. Her classmate and the coach’s daughter, Seve Deery-DeRaps, twice checked in for spot duty when Esty needed a break.

“At one point Taylor’s face was so red I said, ‘Is she going to pass out?’” Deery said.

In fact, Esty was merely getting started. She scored seven points and hauled down a team-high 14 rebounds, many of them during a 10-0 run to end the game and secure a 36-25 Rangeley victory.

Rangeley was expected to challenge for the regional championship again this year, returning most of the group that lost to Greenville in last year’s Western final. It still could happen, but there have been uncommon challenges through the first half.

A knee injury to point guard Allie Hammond forced Rangeley to restructure its game plan before the season. Sickness and other ailments have reduced the remaining 10-player roster close to the minimum, for now.

Undaunted, the Lakers improved to 5-1 with the short-handed victory.

“In some ways, it has been a lot of fun,” Deery said. “There aren’t a lot of expectations. I just came down here and said I hope we play.”

Swimmers making time

Conference and state swim meets are still a month away, but the clock watching has begun. Four local swimmers rank among the fastest seed times in the state in multiple categories.

The last two Sun Journal girls’ all-region swimmers of the year, Melissa Paione of Edward Little and Allie Lewandowski of St. Dom’s, have achieved near mirror-image results.

In Class A, Paione ranks third in the 100-yard breaststroke, seventh in the 100 butterfly and 12th in the 50 freestyle. Relative to Class B competition, Lewandowski also is third in the 100 breast, seventh in the 200 individual medley and 11th in the 100 butterfly, St. Dom’s freshman Ciara Ferguson has made an immediate splash. Ferguson swam the fourth-fastest Class B time in the 500 freestyle prior to the holidays. She is sixth in the 100 backstroke and eighth in the 50 freestyle.

For the St. Dom’s boys, Ryan Robitaille checks in seventh in the 50 freestyle, 10th in the 100 breast and 500 free, and 13th in the 100 fly.

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