Scarborough’s basketball and hockey teams have been tested in the early going, but the majority of results have been positive.

Here’s a look at how the winter sports season has gone so far for the Red Storm:

Boys’ basketball

Scarborough junior Carter Blanche drives to the basket during a recent home win over Portland. Courtesy Kneka Smith. 

Scarborough’s boys’ basketball team opened with wins at Bonny Eagle (67-50) and at home over Portland (61-53), then lost at home to South Portland (67-49) and Thornton Academy (66-59, in overtime). Against the Scots, Carter Blanche led the way with 20 points, Adam Fitzgerald added 15, E.J. Herrick had 11 and Cam Estrella finished with 10. In the win over the Bulldogs, Blanche had 21 points and Fitzgerald added 16.

“It just took a couple games to find our footing,” said Blanche. “We’ve started to find that. Coach (Phil Conley) always preaches that we can’t get too high or too low. Every time it turned around a little bit, we didn’t give up and came back. It’s a game of runs. That’s what basketball is. If you sustain the runs, you’ll win games.”

“Our chemistry is great,” said Fitzgerald, who transferred to Scarborough from Skowhegan. “We have so many offensive weapons. If one defender takes away one part, it leads to something else. We have guys who can knock down shots and get to the rim.”

“It’s never easy against Portland,” added Conley. “They’ll win their fair share of games. What I liked most about our team is how we battled. It’s a game of runs. We stopped some of their runs and I thought we were outstanding defensively tonight.”

In the loss to South Portland, Fitzgerald had a team-high 12 points. Against the Golden Trojans, Fitzgerald went off for 35 points, but it wasn’t enough.

The Red Storm host reigning Class AA South champion Gorham in a regional final rematch Friday (see our website for game story).

“This is a tough, tough conference and we have to bring our ‘A’ game every night,” Conley said. “The teams are well-coached and they’re good and our guys know that. We have to continue to work hard in practice. With the more experience these guys get, we’ll get even better.”

Girls’ basketball

Scarborough senior Emerson Flaker plays defense during last week’s loss at South Portland. Courtesy Kneka Smith.

On the girls’ side, the Red Storm also won their first two outings, 54-14 at Bonny Eagle and 48-31 over visiting Portland. In the victory over the Scots, Ellie Rumelhart had 13 points. Against the Bulldogs, Emerson Flaker had 10 points, 11 steals, five assists and five rebounds, while Rumelhart led the way with 15 points.

“I think it was our intensity and working together as a team,” said Flaker, who has committed to running cross country and track at the University of Connecticut. “We connected passes and the defense was strong. We worked well together.”

“(Emerson) doesn’t need to score to affect games, but I like it when she does,” Scarborough coach Mike Giordano said. “She’s unbelievable. I’ve asked her to be a little more selfish offensively this year. We know what she provides on defense and she’s such a spark for us.”

The Red Storm fell from the unbeaten ranks last Friday with a 51-32 setback at South Portland. Scarborough got nine points from Helena Bukarac, but scored just two points in the fourth quarter.

“We struggled to shoot it tonight,” Giordano said. “Even in the first half, we had a lot of front rim shots. It was just one of those nights. South Portland’s a very good team and they did a nice job on the glass. First half, that was the difference. We need to score off turnovers. They didn’t give us dribble penetration opportunities in the halfcourt.”

Tuesday, the Red Storm improved to 3-1 with a 53-35 win at Thornton Academy. Flaker scored 17 points and Eva Alvarez added 10. Scarborough welcomes defending Class AA South champion Gorham in a regional final rematch Friday (see our website for game story).

“We have many tests to come and I think our kids will respond,” Giordano said.

Boys’ hockey

The Scarborough boys’ hockey squad started with a 4-3 loss to Thornton Academy, then evened its record at 1-1 with a 3-2 victory over Bangor.

The Red Storm welcomed Windham/Westbrook/Bonny Eagle Thursday.

Girls’ hockey

The Falmouth/Scarborough girls’ hockey team already has a third of its schedule in the books and was 3-3 at press time. In its most recent action, the squad edged the Gorham co-op in overtime (3-2) then defeated host York (2-0).

Falmouth/Scarborough had a home showdown versus two-time reigning state champion Cheverus Wednesday and visits Greely Saturday.