The Bangor High School girls basketball team graduated four starters including Bangor Daily News All-Maine second teamers Emmie Streams and Abbie Quinn, and it also lost its fifth starter in junior guard Ayzlynn Gifford, who will miss the season due to a knee injury suffered while playing soccer.
However, fifth-year Bangor coach Jay Kemble did regain the services of talented 6-foot forward Mimi Quinn, who elected not to play last season, and he likes the potential of this team even if it is young and inexperienced.
“It’s a work in progress,” said Kemble. “Mimi has a lot of experience and she is a tremendous player.
“But we have some good athletes who have good skills at different things and as they grow and understand what it is we’re trying to do, they’re going to get better and better as the year goes on,” said Kemble, who guided last year’s team to a 16-4 campaign and a third consecutive berth in the Class AA North semifinals.
“It’s going to take them some time to get comfortable with the speed and the pace but they have grown tremendously over the last two and a half weeks,” he said.
Through five exhibition games, he observed that his team is capable of playing “tremendous defense. We limited a very good Oceanside team to 13 or 14 points in the first half. That’s going to be our trademark and we’re going to try to transition and run off it.
“Like anything, it’s kids understanding where positioning is, defensively; what it is we’re trying to accomplish; trying to find mismatches and learning that part of the game. All of our kids can run. They’re all athletic, they’re long and they’re aggressive. They can sprint up and down the court and they can move laterally,” said Kemble.
Quinn is the only player on the roster who has seen significant playing time, having established herself as a quality post player her first two seasons.
“I’ll take her over anyone,” said Kemble. “She’s a great leader. She has a well-rounded game. She can play inside but she is also as good a ball handler as we have. She can shoot the three if someone lays off her but she can also post-up inside.”
The other four starters are all guards in the guard-oriented offense.
Junior Emily Adams averaged six minutes of playing time per game last season which makes her the player with the second-most experience behind Quinn.
Avery Clark and Dalaney Horr saw some limited duty as freshmen.
“They can all score. They all had games where they scored in double digits,” said Kemble.
The other starter will be another sophomore, Clara Oldenburg, who is an exceptional athlete according to Kemble.
She was on the jayvee team last year.
Gabby Roy, a sophomore guard, is considered an outstanding athlete by Kemble and she will be in the rotation along with junior guard Kali Snowden, senior guard Jaycee Thomas and sophomore forward Ava Syphers, who will give Bangor another inside presence at 5-foot-10.
Junior Gabby Raymond, sophomore Carley Andrews and freshmen Gabby Spreng, Lucy O’
Connell and Emily Caulkins, all guards, will also be competing for playing time after they get more comfortable with the system.
“None of them will be intimidated,” said Kemble.
Adams said it is great to have Quinn back in uniform.
“I love having her back,” said Adams. “We have a pretty tall team now. All of our guards are 5-foot-7, 5-8 or 5-9 and we can all handle the ball. So it will be pretty hard to guard us.”
“All of our guards can post-up smaller players,” said Kemble.
Quinn’s presence in the paint will probably draw double-teams which will mean other shooters will be open. And Quinn is a good passer.
“And Mimi is so unselfish,” said Kemble.
Quinn compared this team to the Ram soccer team that won Class A North this fall and played in the state championship game, losing to Scarborough 2-0.
“We have a really young team but our speed will help us transition quickly and get those easy baskets,” said Quinn.
Twelve of the 14 players on the basketball team were on the soccer team which was coached by Kemble in his first year at the helm.
“That will also help us, quickness-wise,” said Quinn.
Kemble noted that the soccer playoff and state game experience will give his players more poise on the court.
Quinn said she is excited to be back playing basketball.
“I did like the break I had but I missed it. Being back makes me love the game even more. And I love these girls. It’s good to be back,” said Quinn.
Bangor opens by hosting Portland High School on Friday night.
