The postseason is upon us.

By the time this article hits the streets, the girls’ hockey playoffs will be underway and there is much, much more to follow in the weeks to come.

Here’s a glimpse at where things stand now that February is here:

Girls’ hockey

The girls’ hockey postseason is short and sweet and both local teams believe they can be the last team standing Feb. 15.

Scarborough finished first in the South Region at 15-1-2 after closing with a 1-1 home tie versus previously unblemished Lewiston Saturday. The Red Storm earned a bye into the semifinal round where they will host either No. 4 Portland/Deering (11-7) or fifth-ranked York (8-10) Friday or Saturday.. The Red Storm won the regular season meeting against Portland/Deering, 3-2, Dec. 21. The teams have no playoff history. Scarborough blanked York twice, 4-0 at home Dec. 7 and 1-0 on the road Jan. 2. The Red Storm are 4-1 all-time in the playoffs versus the Wildcats, with a 3-0 victory in the 2016 semifinals the most recent.

Cape Elizabeth/Waynflete/South Portland wound up 12-5-1 and second in the South Region after wins at Biddeford (8-0) and St. Dom’s (3-2) last week. Like Scarborough, Cape/Waynflete/SP earned a bye into the semifinals Saturday when it will host either No. 3 seed Cheverus, the defending state champion (13-5), or No. 6 Falmouth (5-13).  Cheverus won the regular season meeting against Cape/Waynflete/SP, 4-2, Jan. 20. The Stags also won the only prior playoff encounter, 1-0, in double-overtime, in last year’s semifinals. Cape/Waynflete/SP handled Falmouth twice, 7-0 and 6-1 away, in the regular season. The teams split two prior playoff encounters.

Looking ahead, the regional final is Wednesday of next week and the state final is Feb. 15 in Lewiston.

Boys’ basketball

South Portland’s boys’ basketball team remained undefeated at press time after recent wins over visiting Gorham (55-40) and host Sanford (69-57). Against the Rams, on Senior Night, Hunter Owen was a spark off the bench with 16 points and Geremi Baez added 10.

“Basketball’s a fun game to play,” said Owen, who has committed to playing baseball next year at Division I Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. “I love playing it with my teammates. It’s easy on my part. All my teammates do the hard work, making plays. I’m just down there to do what I need to do in a team aspect. The guards got in there and made plays and gave me the ball. I just had to make the layups.”

“You can’t let us go on runs because it’s hard to come back against us since we defend well,” Red Riots’ coach Kevin Millington said. “We knew Gorham could hit 3s. We knew for them to beat us, they’d have to get hot. We defended the 3, conceded a two once in awhile and got out on shooters.”

In the win over the Spartans, Owen again had a team-high 16 points, while Cade Carr added 13 and Gerik Bialorucki and Owen Maloney finished with 10 apiece. South Portland (17-0 and first in the Class AA South Heals) had an opportunity to finish a regular season undefeated for the first time since 1991-92, its last state championship season, when it played at Noble Wednesday.

Scarborough downed visiting Noble, 69-49, last Friday, then fell to 9-8 and sixth in Class AA South after a 75-50 loss at home to Thornton Academy Tuesday. Brian Austin erupted for 41 points in the victory. In the setback, Austin led the way with 23 points and Manny Galarraga added 10. The Red Storm finished the regular season Thursday at home versus Bonny Eagle.

Defending Class B South champion Cape Elizabeth 6-11 and fifth after a 53-38 win at Wells and a 46-29 victory over visiting Lake Region. In the win over the Warriors, Nate Mullen led the way with 18 points and Will Bowe added 10. Against the Lakers, Mullen had a team-high 10 points. The Capers closed the regular season at Poland Thursday.

In Class D South, Greater Portland Christian School was 1-13 and 11th (eight teams make the playoffs) following a 56-13 loss at Vinalhaven (56-13) and a 44-32 home victory over Islesboro. Christian Patterson had 20 points and Paul Tran 13 in the win. The Lions closed at Seacoast Christian School Thursday.

Girls’ basketball

On the girls’ side, South Portland is finishing the regular season strong. The Red Riots, who will be the top seed for the upcoming Class AA South tournament, improved to 14-3 after downing visiting Gorham (59-42) and Sanford (60-41) in recent action. Against the Rams, senior standout Maggie Whitmore had a game for the ages, scoring a career-high 36 points, with 24 coming in the first half.

“This was a big game with a good crowd,” said Whitmore, who will play at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts next year. “We needed a win. Someone had to step up. On any given night it could be anybody, but I think tonight, things started to finally click for me and my teammates got me the ball. I can’t score that much if they don’t pass me the ball. Sometimes I miss a few shots and give up on myself, but tonight, I just kept going.”

“I asked Maggie if she had enough in the tank at halftime and she said, ‘Are you kidding me?’” South Portland coach Lynne Hasson said. “She was determined to win a big game. That’s what being one of the best players in the state is all about.”

In the win over the Spartans, Whitmore had 16 points and Cora Boothby-Akilo added 13. The Red Riots closed the regular season Wednesday at home versus Noble.

Defending Class AA South champion Scarborough beat visiting Noble (41-28) and host Thornton Academy (47-36) to improve to 10-7 and third in the region. Against the Knights, Lindsay Fiorillo had 12 points and Elisabeth LeFebvre added 10. The Red Storm closed at home versus Bonny Eagle Thursday.

In Class B South, Cape Elizabeth was still fighting for a playoff spot at press time. Last Thursday, the Capers dropped a hard-fought 43-40 home decision to Wells. Isabel Berman had 13 points, but Cape Elizabeth lost Karli Chapin and Alison Gerety to fifth fouls in the final seconds and came up short.

“I went into the locker room and told (the girls) I had nothing negative to stay,” said Cape Elizabeth coach Chris Casterella. “We hung with a team that’s among the best and just came up a little big short. We just got unlucky.”

Tuesday, the Capers lost another close game late, 33-31, at Lake Region, despite 13 points from Karli Chapin. Cape Elizabeth (8-9 and clinging to the eighth and final spot in the region) finished at home versus Poland Thursday.

Boys’ hockey

Cape Elizabeth’s boys’ hockey team is getting hot at the right time. The Capers extended their win streak to three with recent home wins over Mt. Ararat/Morse/Lisbon (5-1) and Scarborough (3-2). Against the Red Storm, in a game played at the Cross Insurance Arena, Cape Elizabeth dug an early 2-0 hole, but rallied to tie behind second period goals from Quinn Gordon and Matt Laughlin, then won it with 38 seconds to go in regulation when Jonas Moon scored.

“It’s definitely our biggest win,” said Moon, who sported a “game chain” afterwards as his teams Most Valuable Player in the contest. “It was kind of a mental thing. We knew we had to pick it up in the second period and it all clicked at the end.”

“We just have the mentality that the next game is the most important,” Capers’ coach Jake Rutt said. “We need every win we can get. We’re playing good hockey. We just need to button up a few things and hopefully, we can keep it going.”

Cape Elizabeth (5-7 and sixth in the Class B South Heals) welcomed Yarmouth Thursday, goes to Biddeford Saturday and hosts Kennebunk Thursday of next week.

In Class A South, Scarborough suffered home losses to defending Class A champion St. Dom’s (4-3) and Lewiston (3-1) and a 3-2 setback at Cape Elizabeth in recent action. The Red Storm took an early 2-0 lead against the Capers on goals from Collin Wallace and Cory Schuler, but never scored again and lost late.

“I thought we had a good start,” said Scarborough coach Jake Brown. “I thought the first and third periods were pretty good, we just couldn’t get the puck in the net in the third period. We took too many penalties and other than our first power play, we didn’t capitalize on their penalties. We didn’t have urgency to get pucks on net or get second or third shots. Credit to Cape.”

The Red Storm (7-4-1) and third in Class A hosted Biddeford Thursday, goes to Marshwood Saturday and visits Falmouth Tuesday of next week.

The South Portland/Waynflete/Freeport co-op team was 8-4-1 and fourth in Class A at press time after wins last week at Windham (5-2) and Marshwood (6-1). After going to Edward Little Wednesday, the squad is home versus Lake Region Saturday and welcomes Thornton Academy Thursday of next week.

Indoor track

The final regular season SMAA and WMC indoor track meets were held last weekend at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham.

Cape Elizabeth’s girls were first in a seven-team meet, while the boys placed third (Gray-New Gloucester was first).

In SMAA action, Scarborough’s boys were first in a seven-team competition and South Portland placed fourth.

In the girls’ meet, won by Gorham, the Red Riots finished third and the Red Storm placed fourth.

The SMAA and WMC championship meets are Saturday in Gorham.

The Class B state meet is Feb. 15 at Bates College in Lewiston.

The Class A state meet is Feb. 17 in Gorham.

Swimming

In the pool last weekend, Cape Elizabeth’s defending Class B state champion girls beat Portland, 130-48, and the boys defeated the Bulldogs as well, 119-53.

Scarborough swept Windham, as the boys prevailed, 119-45, and the girls also won, 92-66.

South Portland swept Westbrook, as the boys won, 111-44, and the girls prevailed, 94-79.

The Southwestern championship meet was held this week.

The Class A boys’ state meet is Feb. 15 at the University of Maine in Orono. The Class A girls’ meet is Feb. 17 in Orono, while the Class B girls’ state meet is the same day at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. The Class B boys’ meet is Feb. 18 in Brunswick.

Skiing

Cape Elizabeth’s girls were second and the boys fourth at a WMC Alpine giant slalom ski meet last week. The Capers had the top female in Anya Monson, who had a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 7.97 seconds.

The WMC conference ski meet will be held this week.

Wrestling

The Class A South wrestling regional championship meet will be held Saturday at Massabesic High School in Waterboro.

The Portland/South Portland co-op team finishd 15-12 after wins over Deering (42-36), Fryeburg Academy (48-24) and Scarborough (48-21) and a 60-16 loss to Noble.

Scarborough wound up 1-28 after losses to Wells (69-6), Kennebunk (60-12), Portland/South Portland (48-21), Windham (39-18) and Fryeburg Academy (35-24).

The Class A state wrestling meet is Saturday, Feb. 15, in Sanford.

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

Copy the Story Link

Comments are not available on this story.