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By GARY HAWKINS
Staff Writer 01/25/2008

A year ago, the Erskine Academy girls basketball team struggled for victories, finishing with just three. They've racked up 10 so far this season, against four losses, and have yet to field a full complement of players.

"I am surprised, to be honest," Erskine coach Scott Corey said of this season's record. "We've come together considering everything. We've had injuries galore and illness and coming into a new league we didn't know."

A drop to the Class B division of the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference has undoubtedly helped the Eagles, but so has the return of six seniors, although two starters, Ashley Peaslee and Brittany Belden, have yet to play together.

Peaslee, who missed the first half of the season with a partially torn ACL, has been back full-time for two weeks.

"She's a very athletic kid who does some special things," Corey said of his 5-foot-5 off guard. "She just disrupts so many things defensively."

Peaslee has yet to take the court this season with point guard Brittany Belden who has been sidelined since the beginning of the year with mononucleosis. Belden, who averaged 11.5 points in the first five games of the season, has returned at about 80 percent, according to Corey.

"She needs a couple more weeks to get her game legs," Corey said.

Senior Jess St. Amand took over for Belden at the point and kept the team running smoothly, committing just three turnovers in the last three games.

"She's kind of grown into the position," Corey said.

The Eagles also lost Holly Theberge, their second player off the bench, at the beginning of the season with a recurring Achilles tendon injury, and sophomore Meg Helm also missed three games due to injury.

"We had one injury last year," Corey noted.

Through it all, the team has stayed together. Sophomores Kaci Hudson and Helm have played well off the bench while seniors Ashley Richardson and Ericka Malley have developed into scorers.

"Every time we've needed a big basket (Malley's) found a way to score," Corey said.

The Eagles have some key games left, including two tests at the end of the season at Winslow and at Gardiner. They've already assured themselves of their first winning record since 2001, and with everyone reasonably healthy, they should be in shape for a strong run in the Class B tournament.

"These kids have just taken an attitude of refuse to lose," Corey said.

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Cony's Rachael Mack has been one of the quieter performers in Class A since her freshman season, so quiet, in fact, that it went unnoticed recently when she went over 1,000 points for her career.

"We didn't get our numbers correct," Cony coach Paul Vachon said of he and statistician Brian Callahan. "We found out this past weekend it was done at Leavitt (last Tuesday)."

The Rams plan on honoring Mack's achievement at tonight's game against Nokomis in Augusta. The 6-foot-1 senior was sixth person her freshman year and has started the past three seasons. This year, she averages 19.2 points and 10 rebounds a game.

"She can shoot the ball as well as any post player I've ever had," Vachon said. "She'll have the range to shoot the 3-pointer in college."

Mack will attend Colby College next year, but there's plenty of work left to do this season as the 11-2 Rams enter a tough stretch of games beginning tonight. Cony won, 39-30, when the teams met in Newport last month.

"They controlled the ball very, very well," Vachon said.

Games against Morse, Oxford Hills and Brunswick follow.

"We're going to end the year with some very difficult games," Vachon said. "That's what you want going into the tournament."

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While not looking past anyone, Monmouth is gearing up for season-ending games at home against Hall-Dale and on the road against unbeaten Madison. Those teams dealt the 11-2 Mustangs their only losses.

The team is not as deep as it has been the last three seasons, but as coach Rick Amero points out "they've become a pretty cohesive unit."

Senior Jenn Lola leads the team in scoring at 17 points a game as well as rebounding. She has drawn a lot of interest from the University of Southern Maine and hopes to play there next season.

"She's just a great athlete," Amero said of the 5-8 guard/forward.

Lola scored 36 points against Telstar last week, hitting for four 3-pointers and 18 points in the first quarter.

"When she's in the zone . . . ," Amero said.

Forward Moe Beaulieu, who missed last season with an ACL injury, has helped fill the rebounding void left by graduated Cortney Barrett. Alyssa Morin has come on as a scorer, Bethany Neal is a defensive specialist and Jill Armstrong and Katie Woodman are experienced guards.

"Armstrong and Woodman distribute the ball real well," Amero said. "These kids are unbelievably unselfish."

Gary Hawkins -- 621-5638

ghawkins@centralmaine.com

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