Oxford Hills Basketball players mug it up for the camera “As One” First row: Ceceila Dieterich, Julia Colby, Brooke Carson and Margaret Hartnett. Second row: Ella Kellogg, Jade Smedburg, Bailey Whitney, Jada Adams, Viktoria Sugars, and Cassidy Dumont Andree Kehn
PARIS — Before the season, as he always does, Oxford Hills girls basketball coach Nate Pelletier tasked his players with coming up with a motto, something to chant as they break huddles that would mean something to the players.
After a lot of consideration, the players came up with two words: “As one.”
“It really just sort of centers around that,” Pelletier said. “It’s not about any one individual, it’s about the whole team, and all that matters in the end is whether you win or lose, it doesn’t matter who scores the points, it doesn’t matter who gets the steals, the assists.”
The Vikings have embodied “as one” throughout the season, and it has helped lead them to Saturday’s Class AA girls basketball state championship game against Scarborough (6 p.m. at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland).
“We all are really close and we have a lot of fun together,” junior forward Jade Smedberg said, “and we’ve played together for a long time, so I think it just makes good team chemistry.”
“We’re all really close together and we’ve all been playing for a long time, and all of us contribute to the team,” junior guard Julia Colby said.
Colby is the team’s leading scorer (17.5 ppg) and was selected as the Class AA North Player of the Year and the regional tournament MVP. Certainly, she’s had a great season. The Vikings, though, are loaded beyond their player of the year.
“I’ve had three kids score 20 at some point in a game, and I’ve had six or seven score 10 points at some point in a game,” Pelletier said.
They also have several players with 3-point range. Often, all five players on the court can score from deep.
“If someone’s having an off shooting night, we always have someone that can step up and do it,” Smedberg said. “Anybody can step up any night.”
The Vikings have so many contributors, but only five players are allowed on the court at one time and there are only 32 minutes in a game.
“As a coach, it’s been tough because I’m trying to find minutes for all of the kids because they all have a skill that is needed on the court,” Pelletier said. “It’s been sort of a task for me to try to figure out the best moments to put everybody in.”
“Also,” Pelletier added, “it sort of creates a nightmare for the opposing team because they don’t really know who to guard on any given night. So it’s been stressful for me, but it’s also been stressful on the other teams as well.
Oxford Hills has become even more dangerous with the emergence of Cassidy Dumont, who spent the 2017-18 season swinging from the JV to the varsity team. This year, the sophomore guard is a starter and is the Vikings’ second-leading scorer at 10.5 points per game.
“She’s a kid that just put in a lot of work, put in a lot of time shooting, and her ball-handling skills are just as good as Cecelia’s and Julia’s.”
Entering the season, Oxford Hills already had one of the top backcourts in the state in point guards Colby and Cecelia Dieterich. Dumont’s emergence gives the Vikings three high-caliber starting point guards.
That embarrassment of riches brings a big smile to Pelletier’s face.
“It just makes it really hard on defenses to guard all three,” Pelletier said.
“It’s what you want in a team,” Whitney said. “You not only have one guard, but you have three who all are really good, all can shoot, can dribble, and it’s just awesome because they’re always there to rely on.”
When Colby, Dieterich or Dumont takes a breather on the bench, Pelletier is confident the team won’t miss a beat.
That same confidence exists in the rest of the roster. That was clear when senior and longtime starter Jadah Adams went down with an injury midway through the season.
Up stepped the Vikings’ only other senior, Bailey Whitney. Like Adams, Whitney played physical in the post, battled for rebounds and made shots when called upon.
“I was very sad when she got hurt, and I was just thinking, OK, I have to step up here for the team, because I didn’t play as much and now I play a lot more,” Whitney said. “I was just thinking, I have to step up for the team and coach and everybody.”
Adams’ injury is progressively healing and should be a factor off the bench against Scarborough.
Saturday will be the Vikings’ second state title game appearance in three seasons. The 2016-17 team, which lost to Gorham in the championship, relied primarily on defense.
This year’s squad, obviously, has a lot more scoring punch, but its defense is still strong. Pelletier said that the points-allowed-per-game average is about the same as in 2016-17.
The Vikings are continuing to work and improve.
“It’s been a fun team to coach,” Pelletier said Thursday. “Last night, we probably had the best practice of the year. They just really got after it. It showed … that they’re ready to play.”
Oxford Hills (19-2), the top seed in AA North, is playing in its fourth state title game — all in the past 11 years. To win its first championship, it will have to defeat Scarborough (19-2), the second seed in AA South.
The Red Storm have held their three playoff opponents to 29, 32 and 25 points. The 25-point game was against AA South No. 1 South Portland, which, along with Greely, is one of the only two teams to defeat Oxford Hills this season.
“They’re kind of similar to us. They’re pretty guard-oriented, they shoot a lot of 3s,” Pelletier said. “It’s going to be a battle.”
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