WOOLWICH

The Woolwich Central School boys and girls basketball teams are cruising along, each with an undefeated record, and both face key matchups Friday against also unbeaten Vinalhaven, girls at 3:45 p.m., boys to follow.

Girls

The Woolwich girls, with a record of 9- 0, head into their last game of the regular season against 9-0 Vinalhaven at home.

“This year’s team consists of nine returning players and three new players. Solid basics and game knowledge has been one strength that has proven our success this year,” said head coach Julie Elwell. “This team is well-balanced and our biggest strength being multiple defenses with tough pressure in the fulland half-courts. Our running transition game and motion offense has also been an asset for us. The average points per game — 55 — really does not reflect what our true potential could be.”

Madaline Suhr, Brooke McElman, Lilah Pashley and Korallei Fifield have been impact players with balance on both the offensive and defensive ends. Gabrielle Morin and Lilly Maccio are defensive standouts and Isabella Monbouquette a strong rebounder.

“Catherine Seaman, small as she is, has solid knowledge and skills with no fear as she will box out any girl,” praised Julie Elwell. “Tori Ceglinski understands how to be a team player and constantly looks to develop her overall game. Hannah Card, Tanisha McKenzie and Sara Graves are our first-year players and by having plenty of game time their skills and knowledge have improved tremendously.”

All nine wins have been with doubledigit victory margins, with over half the roster contributing offensively, and defensively holding every opponent to under 24 total points.

“Although individual and team statistics are important, we direct our focus on consistently developing, a complete team understanding of our strategy, and a philosophy that produces success,” said Julie Elwell. “Respecting the game of basketball is significant in our program and the girls take pride in achieving a high level of sportsmanship to our opponent.”

Boys

The 9-0 boys picked up two recent wins.

The first game came at Bristol and Woolwich prevailed 65-51 with quarterly leads of 16-11, 34-20 and 46-35.

The trio of Dakota Freeman, Evan Parsons and Tucker Banger scored 57 of the team’s 65 points, including all of the second-half 31 points. Freeman’s 28 led all scorers, while Parsons had 19 and Banger 10.

Leading Bristol was Brett McLain with 20 with Nathan Masters adding 14.

At Islesboro, Woolwich led 16-4, 38-7 and 50-14 at the breaks with a final of 68- 14.

“This marked the eighth-straight double digit winning margin,” lauded head coach Shawn Elwell. “Individual scoring resulted in the most balanced attack of the season.”

Parsons lead all scorers with 20 points, while adding seven rebounds. Freeman missed a triple double by one steal with 14 points, 13 rebounds and nine steals, while Banger had 11 points, six assists and seven steals.

Other scorers included Lucas Brown and Sullivan Boyd each with six points, Max Reed with five, and James LaCavera four. Islesboro’s leading scorer was John Gotham with eight.

“Assisting on 23 of the 29 made field goals is an improved stat that is a result of better passing and team cohesion,” said Shawn Elwell.