Kennebunk’s Kendall Therrien is averaging 16.6 points per game this season. The Rams are 7-3 this season after winning just once last season. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald

Kennebunk girls basketball coach Rob Sullivan asked his players to set their core values before the season.

The players’ response? They wanted to have fun.

“I was like, ‘That’s fantastic,'” Sullivan said. “It was like, ‘All right, good, we’ve got it.’ (They) have a good perspective on it.”

They’ve been having a lot more fun than in previous seasons. After winning just one game last year and seven over the past three, the Rams have rebounded this winter, and entered this week with a 7-3 record.

They’re not the only team experiencing a bounce-back year. After going 6-13 last season, Edward Little is 6-3 and looks like an AA North contender. Nokomis has gone from 2-16 to 5-5 in A North. John Bapst, 2-16 last year, is 4-3 in B North this year. Leavitt, 7-11 in B South last year, has charged to a 6-1 record this season.

But few turnarounds have been as drastic as Kennebunk’s. The team that was at the bottom of Class A South last year can spend the second half of this season gunning for the playoffs.

“I’m super happy for the seniors and juniors, especially,” Sullivan said. “It’s a combination of sticking with it, the hard workers are continuing to work hard, and embracing a new attitude and some positivity. We had some positive experiences this summer, and I think that kind of fit into some different energy this winter.”

Kendall Therrien (16.6 points per game) has been a do-it-all player on both ends, Addie Clark has returned after missing last year with an injury to run the point, and seniors Cenzie Cunningham, Delaney Hanson and Simone Houdlette have been “class acts” and “our rock,” according to Sullivan.

The Rams have also been lifted by a frenetic pace, particularly on defense. Kennebunk has to play that way — everyone on the team is 5-foot-7 or shorter.

“We have to fly around, for sure,” Sullivan said. “We try to play fast but not in a hurry. (It’s) really hard to do, to play fast and press on defense, but then take good shots on offense.”

Hope Fontaine has helped Edward Little improve from 6-13 last season to 6-3 so far this season.

Edward Little was an early exit from the AA tournament last season. But at 6-3, and with wins over Cheverus and Sanford, the Red Eddies have the look of a team that can hang around for a while.

“We spent this summer really focused on trying to change the culture,” said first-year coach Frank Perry, whose daughter Jade played for the 2018 state championship team, the last Eddies squad to win a playoff game. “I spent a lot of time with our seniors because I really needed them to buy into the fact that I felt like we had all the makings to be a good team.”

They have been, as Hope Fontaine (10.3 points), Layla Facchiano (10.0) and Rachel Penny (9.7 points, 6.7 rebounds) have led the way. It hasn’t been easy; Edward Little was a team without a home early due to gym renovations, but after the Eddies returned just before Christmas, Perry said he saw the offense flourish in the familiar setting.

The numbers bear it out; after topping 50 points twice in its first six games, Edward Little has reached that number in the last three games, all wins.

“Some of that’s confidence,” Perry said. “Winning breeds winning. As you see you can beat these teams, ‘OK, we can beat this team.’ And so on.”

Hampered by injury and inexperience, Nokomis slumped last year in coach Kyle Peavey’s first season at the helm. But this winter a staunch defense has helped the Warriors hold opponents to 40.5 points per game, and even some losses — such as a 44-42 defeat to perennial contender Hampden Academy — have looked encouraging.

“All the players are buying in. They had high hopes this year that we weren’t going to be an easy out, and that we were going to have a much better season,” said Peavey, whose team has been led by Abbie Bradstreet, Danica Migliore and Raegan King. “We’re playing really good half-court defense as a team. … We have a lot of quick guards and apply a lot of ball pressure. We’re not tall but we have a lot of length.”

Hall-Dale still contending

Hall-Dale, the defending Class C South champion, has jumped out to a 7-2 start despite changeover and smaller numbers.

The Bulldogs split their first two games before going on a five-game win streak that included a 43-38 victory over Class C North contender Mount View on Dec. 21.

“So far we’ve really hung on in some scrappy games,” Hall-Dale coach Laurie Rowe said. “Our team is really small (11 players) this year, so the girls have played a lot of minutes. Getting them conditioned and getting them used to playing all of those minutes has been huge for us, while trying to get some of the underclassmen up to speed to the seasoned veterans that I have.”

“They played with amazing heart (in the Mount View win). That game made me the most proud. (Sophomore guard) Maya Hammonds really stepped up in that game, and played some amazing minutes and defense for us.”

Last season, Hall-Dale rolled into the C South tournament as the No. 1 seed, beating Madison 49-36 for its second regional title in three seasons. Hall-Dale graduated multiple seniors from that team, including point guard Hayden Madore, who is now playing at St. Joseph’s College in Standish.

Rowe has credited her seniors, namely guards Torie Tibbetts and Marie Benoit, for taking control and leading this year’s group. They’re joined by fellow seniors Lucy Gray and Jade Graham. The group is one of the last links to Hall-Dale’s 2022 Class C championship team, which beat Stearns 57-42 for the program’s fourth Gold Ball.

Spruce Mountain’s youth boost

Spruce Mountain has remained a Class B South contender, thanks in part to one of its youngest players.

Even after losing top players in Jaydn and Jazmine Pingree and Aubrey Kachnovich from last year’s regional finalist squad, the Phoenix won their first seven games and entered Monday third in Class B South at 8-1.

The team has gotten solid contributions from freshman Lily Bellrose, who has shown a knack for scoring and perimeter shooting. Last week, she had 13 points in a victory over Monmouth, nine in a loss to Medomak Valley in a matchup of regional threats, then nine in a win over Lake Region.

Bellrose often runs the offense in transition and has impressed coach Zach Keene.

“(She’s an) extremely hard worker,” he said. “Works on her game all the time. A high-level shot-maker. She’s very, very dangerous with the ball in her hands. The more comfortable she gets, the more dangerous she’s getting.”

Morning Sentinel reporter Dave Dyer and Haley Jones of the Sun Journal contributed to this story.