Players to watch: Soph. F Sydney Tilton, Richmond; Soph F Page Brown Boothbay; Fr. G Faith Blethen, Boothbay; Soph. G Tia Day, Monmouth; Sr. G Sidney Wilson, Monmouth; Sr. G Kayla Bess, Madison; Jr. F Marina Casey, Traip; Jr. F Chloe Dwinell, St. Dom’s; Sr. F Mickayla Willette Carrabec; Sr. F Anna Bucklin, Searsport.

Favorites: Boothbay, Monmouth

The Seahawks and Mustangs have been the two best C South teams during the regular season. Unfortunately, if they meet in the tourney, it will be in the semifinal.

Boothbay has gone 17-1 in back-to-back seasons and has the MVC’s top scorer in Brown (17.3 ppg) and one of the best young new players in Blethen (11.8). The Hawks have a solid team around them that can shoot and play defense. Boothbay allowed just 25 points per game. Boothbay held opponents to under 20 points in 11 games.

Monmouth was the only team to beat Boothbay, on a Hannah Anderson buzzer-beater. Day (10.9 ppg) and Wilson (8 ppg) lead a Mustang team that allowed just 29.8 points per game and had eight foes held under 30 points. Monmouth is undersized compared to some but players like Haley West and Maddie Amero have been a force in the paint and on the boards.

If Boothbay and Monmouth meet in the semifinal, the winner will be tough to beat for the regional title.

Darkhorses: Richmond, Madison

You can’t just dismiss the top seed. Richmond has gone 74-14 in the regular season the previous five years against Class D teams and 14-6 in the tourney. But the Bobcats played a D schedule this year, as well. It will be interesting to see how the Bobcats fare in C South.

Madison is a traditional power in this C tourney. The Bulldogs have been to the regional final three times in the past six years. History says that drawing a Western Maine Conference team in the quarters and a team with a Class D schedule in the semis is a pretty good bracket. Madison will have to prove that to be true. The Bulldogs edged out Waynflete, a team Traip split with in the regular season, and Richmond is still a solid team despite its D schedule. 

Fun Facts: Five of the 10 teams that Richmond played had losing records. … Boothbay finished the season with six straight wins and went 8-1 against C South tourney teams. … Monmouth had the highest scoring offense in the tourney field with 52 points per game. Boothbay was second with 50. … Madison went 6-5 in its last 11 games and went 4-5 against the C South field. … Traip started the year 1-6 and won four of its last six games to earn its first trip to the quarterfinals in five years. … St. Dom’s has just one win at the ACC. That came in 2008. The Saints have lost 12 of 13 quarterfinals, including in 2014 as the No. 1 seed. … Carrabec has one quarterfinal win since 2002. That was in 2014 when the Cobras won the state title. … Searsport has won five of its last six including a prelim win over Old Orchard Beach. … St. Dom’s prelim win over Dirigo eliminated a familiar squad to this field. The Cougars had been to the quarterfinals 2o times in the last 22 years and had won 44 of 52 games at the ACC.

Overview: There’s an interesting mix of teams in this tourney. Richmond with its primarily Class D schedule, MVC regulars like Boothbay, Monmouth, Madison and Carrabec, WMC teams like Traip, surprise teams like St. Dom’s and a Searsport club that plays a tough Eastern C schedule but has played in the D tourney in recent years. Traip may not be an easy out. The Rangers played a tough schedule of A, B and C teams and have a solid post game that scored 35 of its 55 points in the prelim win over Hebron. St. Dom’s has no seniors and been in the postseason 12 straight years. Dwinell was one of the top scorers in the MVC (10.8 ppg 8.5 rpg).

It will be interesting to see how this tourney comes together, but one thing that the regular season showed is that Boothbay and Monmouth are steps ahead of the most other squads. That should hold true. Who one of those teams plays in the regional final is a bit of a question mark. It is tough to pick against Madison. If it is an all-MVC final, as it often is, the winner of the Boothbay-Monmouth matchup will have the upper hand. In the end, Boothbay has size, great perimeter play and a little extra incentive after losing early in last year’s tourney and losing at the buzzer to Monmouth.

Prediction: Boothbay

#Tourney16

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