Portland/Deering’s Emily Demers sends a shot on goal during the co-op squad’s 8-1 win at Edward Little/Leavitt last week.

Cheverus’ Emme Poulin shows off some nifty dribbling during the Stags’ 50-48 home loss to Scarborough Friday.

Maine Girls’ Academy’s Katie Fitzpatrick goes up for a basket during the Lions’ 57-34 home win over Biddeford last week. Fitzpatrick finished with a triple-double.

This winter might never end, but at least there are some compelling sports stories to keep us warm. A new year has brought much success and the best is yet to come.

Here’s a glimpse:

Boys’ basketball

Portland’s two-time defending Class AA champion boys’ basketball team stayed undefeated last week after handling visiting Gorham (73-52) and holding off host Edward Little (78-70). Against the Rams, Terion Moss had 26 points, Griffin Foley added 16 and Trey Bellew produced 13. The Bulldogs had to sweat against the Red Eddies, but prevailed behind 24 points from Moss and 15 apiece from Bellew and Simon Chadbourne.

“(Simon’s) been playing great this year and he’s getting so much better with his rebounding and defense,” Portland coach Joe Russo said. “I don’t like taking him off the court because he’s such a threat (offensively).”

The 7-0 Bulldogs were at Sanford Tuesday, host South Portland in a state game rematch Thursday (see theforecaster.net for game story). play at Scarborough Saturday and visit Lewiston Monday.

Deering enjoyed a 55-28 home win over Bonny Eagle last Tuesday, then fell to 5-3 after losing at Oxford Hills (40-37) and South Portland (64-50). Darryl Germain led the way with 15 points in the victory. Against the Vikings, Ben Onek went off for 27 points and 10 rebounds. Onek had 19 points and Germain added 14 in the loss to the Red Riots. The Rams were home with Scarborough Tuesday, go to Cheverus Thursday and host Edward Little Monday.

Cheverus fell to 3-5 after losses last week at Thornton Academy (45-44) and Scarborough (55-50). Matt Duchaine and Tobias Ephron both had 10 points against the Golden Trojans. In the loss to the Red Storm, Ephron and Will Shibles both had 11 points and Owen Burke added 10. The Stags were at Gorham Tuesday, host Deering Thursday, welcome Massabesic Saturday and go to Sanford Monday.

Waynflete dropped a 54-53 home decision to Yarmouth last Wednesday, then improved to 4-3 with an 88-19 home victory over Greater Portland Christian School Saturday. Diraige Dahia had 22 points and Askar Houssein added 14 in the setback. Against the Lions, Alex Saade led a balanced attack with 14 points, while Dahia and Finn Scott both added 13. The Flyers were at Sacopee Valley Monday, visit Old Orchard Beach Thursday and host Gray-New Gloucester Saturday.

Girls’ basketball

On the girls’ side, Maine Girls’ Academy remained undefeated and improved to 6-0 with wins over visiting Biddeford (57-34) and host Windham (68-62) last week. Against the Tigers, Emily Weisser returned from a lengthy knee injury, Katie Fitzpatrick had a rare triple-double, producing 11 points, 13 steals and 10 rebounds, and Jill Joyce and Serena Mower both added 10 points.

“I’m not used to playing, but it’s so good to be back,” Weisser said. “It was scary, but I tried to get over it. I would say I’m 75 percent back.”

“It’s very important to me for us to all work together,” said Fitzpatrick. “When I got those steals, I just tried to do it for my team. We realize everyone on the team has a role. When we come off the bench, we try to bring energy.”

“We have to keep working on defense and our ball movement on offense,” MGA coach Billy Goodman added. “The girls are getting better. We’re having a blast this year.”

In the win over the Eagles, Mower led the way with 21 points, while Reid added 19 and Joyce had 11. The Lions went to Massabesic Tuesday, visit two-time defending Class AA champion Gorham Thursday, host South Portland Saturday (see theforecaster.net for game story) and go to Kennebunk Monday.

Portland had perhaps the biggest win of the year last Tuesday when it ended Gorham’s 47-game win streak with a 43-41 road victory on Shayla Eubanks’ late 3-pointer. Eubanks had a team-high 12 points. The Bulldogs then downed visiting Edward Little, 57-42, behind 16 points from Gemima Motema and 13 from Amanda Kabantu. Portland (5-2) was at Sanford Monday, hosts South Portland Thursday (see theforecaster.net for game story), visits Noble Saturday and welcomes Lewiston Monday of next week.

Deering fell to 4-3 after losses last week at Bonny Eagle (49-31) and at home to Oxford Hills in a regional final rematch (50-35). Delaney Haines had 19 points against the Scots and 14 against the Vikings. The Rams were at Scarborough Tuesday, host Cheverus Thursday and visit Edward Little Monday.

Cheverus enjoyed a 58-43 home win over Thornton Academy and fell at home to Scarborough, 50-48, last week. In the win, Abby Cavallaro had 18 points and Emme Poulin added 16. In the loss, the Stags got 18 points from Cavallaro, but let a late lead slip away.

“It had to be an entertaining, fun game to watch,” first-year Cheverus coach Gary Fifield said. “It was a great chess match. We went back and forth, but we had too many turnovers and got in foul trouble. We just don’t have the depth. The kids played hard and executed, but we had too many turnovers and mental mistakes.”

The Stags (4-4) hosted Gorham Tuesday, play at Deering Thursday and Massabesic Saturday and welcome Sanford Monday.

Waynflete dropped a 24-22 decision at Yarmouth and downed visiting Hebron Academy, 43-27, last week to stay at .500 with a 3-3 mark. In the loss, Lydia Giguere had a dozen points. In the victory, Giguere had 16 points and Anna Wildes added 12. The Flyers hosted Sacopee Valley Tuesday, welcome Old Orchard Beach Thursday, go to defending Class B champion Gray-New Gloucester Saturday and host Poland in a makeup game Monday.

Boys’ hockey

Cheverus’ boys’ hockey team took a 2-1-1 record into Monday’s game at Thornton Academy. The Stags were scheduled to host Scarborough last Thursday, but that game was postponed by bad weather. Cheverus hosts two-time defending state champion Lewiston Thursday, goes to Portland/Deering Saturday and hosts Scarborough in a makeup game Monday.

Portland/Deering lost, 5-3, at Falmouth Saturday to fall to 3-2-1 on the year. Cam King, Joe Pichette and Donnie Tocci had the goals. Portland/Deering hosts Yarmouth Thursday, welcomes Cheverus Saturday and is at Massabesic Monday.

The South Portland/Waynflete/Freeport co-op team took a 3-3 mark into Monday’s game at Brunswick following a 4-1 win at Massabesic. The squad goes to Biddeford next Monday.

Girls’ hockey

The Portland/Deering girls’ hockey team continued its recent surge Saturday with an 8-1 win at Edward Little/Leavitt, its sixth in a row. Caroline Lerch scored three times, while Emily Demers and Lucy Howe both added two goals as Portland/Deering improved to 8-3 on the season.

“This is one of the first games that we’ve played well at the beginning of the game,” Portland/Deering coach Tom Clifford said. “I think if you look at even the games we’ve won, we’ve started behind. They responded very well and came out and we’ve had a couple really good, solid days of practice and I think they’re getting the ‘we have to compete in warmups’ to start there and go from there.”

Portland/Deering hosts Winslow Wednesday, goes to Gorham Saturday and is home Monday to take on Cape Elizabeth/Waynflete/South Portland.

Cheverus/Kennebunk bounced back from its lone loss by downing visiting Cape Elizabeth/Waynflete/South Portland (6-2) and host York (4-0). Abby Lamontagne had two goals against Cape Elizabeth/Waynflete/SP. Cheverus/Kennebunk (9-1) is home against Edward Little/Leavitt Thursday, goes to Lewiston Saturday and visits Winslow Monday.

Cape Elizabeth/Waynflete/SP fell to 4-5 after losses last week at Cheverus (6-2) and at home to defending champion St. Dom’s (5-0). After going to Mt. Ararat/Morse Wednesday, the squad is home with York Saturday and plays at Portland/Deering Monday.

Indoor track

Cheverus’ girls’ indoor track team took part in the Dartmouth Relays in New Hampshire last weekend and Emma Gallant again stole the show. Gallant won the 300 in 41.24 seconds and was third in the 55 (7.44). Gallant also joined Emma White, Evelyn Hanley and Victoria Bossong to produce a second-place 4×400 relay team, which set a new school record in 4 minutes, 9.76 seconds in the process. White placed fourth in the long jump (16 feet, 8.25 inches) and was seventh in the triple jump (35-1). Bossong was third in the 300 (42.04) and 10th in the 55 (7.68). Turner placed 45th in the 1,000 (3:36.98). Hanley was 19th in the 55 hurdles (9.71). On the boys’ side, Cheverus’ Sean Tompkins was sixth in both the 55 (6.73) and 11th in the 300 (37.29).

Portland’s boys and girls were both fourth at a five-team league meet last week.

The boys’ squad was led by Wyatt Dana (winner of the junior 800, 2:23.28), Milo Bloom (first in the junior 55 hurdles, 9.02), Clinton Nicolai (first in the senior shot put, 49-5.75) and its first-place open 4×800 relay team (9:26.42).

The girls got wins from Lucinda Medd in the junior 800 (2:42.56), Noelle Walker in the junior high jump (5-0), Karina Boothe in the senior 55 (7.85),

Deering’s meet last week was postponed by bad weather.

Saturday, Cheverus competes against Biddeford, Massabesic and Scarborough, Deering takes on Marshwood, Thornton Academy and Windham and Portland competes against Bonny Eagle, Noble and Westbrook.

Swimming

Deering’s boys won their swim meet at Gorham last weekend, 101-57, while the girls lost, 90-76. Owen McLaughlin was a double winner in the 100 butterfly and 500 freestyle and currently is ranked in the top 10 in every individual event in Class A. The boys’ team won all three relays, while the girls’ squad won the 200 and 400 free relays.

Cheverus swept Sanford, as the boys enjoyed a 116-48 victory and the girls prevailed, 102-62.

Portland’s boys edged Yarmouth, 83-70, while the girls fell to the Clippers, 96-61.

Wednesday, MGA joins Bonny Eagle at Windham. Friday, Deering hosts Portland, Cheverus is at Massabesic and Waynflete goes to Bonny Eagle.

Skiing

While some ski meets have been postponed due to the brutally cold weather, there was some limited action last week.

Cheverus was second behind the Falmouth/Waynflete co-op squad in a giant slalom meet at Shawnee Peak. Stags standout Annesley Black was first individually with a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 5.02 seconds. The Falmouth/Waynflete boys also placed first, while Cheverus came in fifth.

Waynflete took part in a five-team Nordic freestyle meet last week. The Flyers girls were fourth and the boys came in fifth.

Deering’s girls were third behind Fryeburg Academy and Falmouth in an SMAA/WMC Nordic freestyle meet. The Rams were led by Sierra Aponte-Clarke (fifth, 16:24.4). In the same meet, Portland’s boys were second to Falmouth, while Deering finished third. Portland’s Liam Niles was runner-up in 13 minutes, 23.5 seconds. Deering’s William Jordan was third in 13:51.8.

Wrestling

Portland’s wrestling team (which is a co-op this year with South Portland) finished 11th at last weekend’s Spartan Invitational in Sanford. Zack Elowitch came in first at 152 pounds, while Qasim Abdullah was runner-up at 126 pounds. Portland/South Portland had previously defeated Westbrook/Gorham to improve to 5-2 on the season. Portland/South Portland is at Massabesic Wednesday.

Cheverus fell to 3-5 after recent losses to Scarborough (37-21), Lisbon/Oak Hill (42-27) and Westbrook/Gorham (56-21). The Stags are at Deering Wednesday.

Deering lost last week to Biddeford (57-15) and Kennebunk (48-18) to fall to 1-2. The Rams host Cheverus and Wells Wednesday.

Sun Journal staff writers Wil Kramlich and Randy Whitehouse contributed to this story.

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.