Even though they came into the Class D North girls basketball tournament as the defending state Class C champions, there wasn’t much fanfare surrounding the Penobscot Valley High School Howlers from Howland entering the tourney.
After all, the Howlers had lost five regular season games after going undefeated in a higher class last season. And they were only seeded fourth.
But the Howlers beat fifth seed Southern Aroostook of Dyer Brook 73-19 in the quarterfinals, top seed and previously undefeated Bangor Christian 52-37 in the semifinals and Machias 53-37 in the D North title game.
Three of their five regular season losses came to Bangor Christian and the other two came to undefeated Class C North titlist Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln.
“We knew from the get-go that we could beat Bangor Christian,” senior Penobscot Valley guard Rylee Moulton said. “It was about getting our pieces together and really coming together at the right time. It was just the work we put in over the season.”
Moulton also pointed to the fact that all of the Howlers’ regular season losses came against undefeated teams.
“On paper, it looks like we didn’t have a good season. In my high school career, this might have been the hardest we’ve ever had to work for it,” Moulton added. “It makes it that much sweeter.”
Senior forward Lila Cummings admitted that there was “definitely some doubt” whether they were would win the regional title.
“But we knew if we were willing to work, which obviously we were, that we were going to come out victorious,” Cummings said.
Howlers head coach Nate Case said they hadn’t had to deal with this much adversity a year ago or in previous years.
“Being where we are right now, I’m having to prove myself as a coach — that we can handle all that adversity and still believe in the program and the process,” Case said.
“Even though we had five losses and no one was talking about us, here we are still,” Case added. Just knowing that if we show up each day and put up our best in practice, we’ll be ready and prepared at the right time,” said Case. “We just kept working.”
And that meant plenty of sprints in practice.
Case said after the regular-season ending loss to Mattanawcook Academy, they “got back into the gym and kept running.”
And that conditioning work paid off in the tournament.
“They weren’t sprinting like I wanted them to. Unfortunately for them, it felt like preseason,” Case said about the pre-tournament sprints.
The Howelers coach also wanted his team to be ready to run up and down the bigger court at the Cross Insurance Center.
He noted that some opponents were “getting out on us” on fast breaks during the regular season.
“So we’ve got to be in shape to sprint back. Small things like that,” Case said about the tournament preparation.
The Howlers will now take on Mount Abram in Saturday’s 2:35 p.m. state title game at the Augusta Civic Center.
Raymond and Moulton each averaged 13 points per game in the tournament and Cummings averaged 12.
