SOUTH BERWICK, Maine — The Marshwood High School girls basketball team wasn't very happy about losing to Thornton Academy two nights earlier. Just ask rival Noble.

The Knights (2-10) bore the brunt of the Hawks' frustration in Saturday night's Western Maine Class A matchup, as they were blown out by 42 points, 58-16.

"We were all still mad about the Thornton game heading into tonight," sophomore Jorden Mitchell said. "We felt we like we could've won, so it gave us plenty of motivation for Noble. There was no way they were going to beat us tonight."

Mitchell helped get the Hawks (7-5) out to an early lead, scoring nine first-quarter points. Marshwood's full-court press also set the tone, forcing the Knights into 11 opening-quarter turnovers.

"The girls wrote focus and energy on the locker room whiteboard before the game," Hawks coach Lee Petrie said. "Those were their top two priorities tonight, and it clearly showed in our press early on. The intensity was great, everyone was feeding off each other — it was ideal."

Kayla Rackley had the hot hand in the second quarter, as the sophomore guard came off the bench to help widen the lead with three 3-pointers. She finished with a game-high 15 points.

"That was a fantastic effort from Kayla tonight," Petrie said. "She's been battling a knee-injury, so for her to come out and play like that was just awesome."

Petrie was also elated with the play of Mitchell.

"Jorden came out with a fire tonight," he said. "She scored the ball well, but I thought her rebounding was the biggest factor. It allows us to do so much when she rebounds like she did tonight — and then her athleticism allows her to get up floor get be involved in the offense."

The Hawks led 37-5 at halftime, and 47-9 at the end of three.

"We're a little banged up with injuries — but that's no excuse for tonight's performance," Noble coach John Coffin said. "(Noble's) a very good team. They're very aggressive, they've got a lot of good athletes, and they shoot the basketball very well."

Coffin hopes Saturday night's defeat will serve as a learning experience for his primarily inexperienced team.

"We lost our composure early on, and being a team that doesn't have many players with varsity experience, that was a killer," he said. "Before the game we talked about breaking their press with patience and ball-reversal, but when the game started we did none of that. Hopefully the girls can draw from this in the future, knowing that if they do what they practiced, we'll be ok."

Megan Pelkey led the Knights with eight points.

Mitchell was excited to entend her own personal streak within the Hawks victory.

"I've never lost to Noble," she said. "Besides losing to Thornton, I think that's why everyone was so pumped up today — knowing that we were playing our rival. We need to play that pumped up every game for the rest of the season."

Noble hosts Thornton on Friday, while Marshwood welcomes Biddeford.

Marshwood, 58-16

NOBLE (16) — C. Waterman 0-0-0, Bourbon 0-1-1, Thibeau 0-0-0, Vail 0-0-0, Ch. Waterman 1-0-2, Ruger 1-3-5, Pelkey 3-2-8, Nakonz 0-0-0, Needham 0-0-0. Totals: 5-6-16.

MARSHWOOD (58) — Gori 1-2-4, McPherson 0-0-0, Folger 3-0-7, Bartlett 0-2-2, Rackley 4-3-15, Taylor 0-1-1, Schoff 0-0-0, Mitchell 2-7-11, Little 2-4-9, Watson 2-0-5, Lachance 1-0-2, Pike 1-0-2, Schladenhauffen 0-0-0. Totals: 16-19-58.

Noble (2-10) 3 2 4 7 — 16

Marshwood (7-5) 17 20 10 11 — 58

3-pointers: N-None, M-7 (Rackley 4, Little, Watson, Folger).

Monika O'Clair/Citizen photo Marshwood's Jorden Mitchell, right, drives past Noble's Megan Pelkey during Western Maine Class A action in South Berwick Saturday night.

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1995 title-winning Marshwood girls team to be honored

It may have the best moment of Shelby Fontaine's high school basketball career, and it closely followed one of the worst.

It's been 15 years since the girls basketball team at Marshwood High School won the program's only state championship. But the memories, many faded by time, are sure to get a little clearer Saturday evening, when the team is reunited and recognized during halftime of the Hawks' game with Noble.

Organizers are estimating that at least 10 of the 12 players from that team will be on hand for the ceremony, one that will honor not just what Marshwood did in the 1994-95 season, but how it was done.

"It was definitely a highlight of my life," said Jessica Crosby Jordan, the point guard on that team. "It was just an amazing experience."

Current Marshwood coach Lee Petrie was a sixth-grade social studies and computer teacher, and junior high basketball coach back then. A fishing buddy of then-coach Mike Lewis, Petrie appreciated the season as a fan more than anything, and what the girls accomplished — and how they accomplished it — stayed with him.

Each year, he picks a theme for his Marshwood varsity. This year, the chosen theme was "team," and he and the boosters thought it would be nice to recognize the ultimate team.

"We thought, with the 15th anniversary, it would be a great time to jump on it," said Petrie.

Not totally unlike it is today — with York one of Maine's top programs and nearby Winnacunnet indisputably the class of New Hampshire — the balance of girls basketball power rested locally back then. York had won Class B championship in 1993-94. Kennebunk had Boston College-bound Allison Booth, a 6-foot-4 center.

"This part of the state was an absolute hotbed for girls basketball," said Petrie.

The Hawks were annual visitors to the Augusta Civic Center, but had only won one Western Maine title — in 1990-91 — and never a state title.

"If I remember correctly, we weren't predicted to win states or anything like that," said Jordan.

The opener was a 46-36 loss at Kennebunk. But Marshwood wouldn't lose again. Junior forward Alli Marshall topped the 1,000-point mark for her career that season, one of a laundry list of highlights.

"We were definitely strong defensively," said Jordan. "We had a good trapping defense and full-court press. We were able to run and gun, but could set up offense as well."

After going 17-1, the Hawks entered the Western Maine tournament as the top seed. After easily dispatching Oak Hill in the quarterfinals (62-43) and Erskine Academy in the semis (65-44), they found themselves tied in the final minute with a good Cape Elizabeth team.

The Hawks had possession, but turned the ball over, a miscue Fontaine is pretty sure she had something to do with. But Tara Eisner made a steal to get the ball back. With the seconds ticking off, Crosby passed to backcourt partner Fontaine, who sized up a 3-pointer and drained it as the buzzer sounded.

Marshwood 42. Cape 39.

"To be in the Augusta Civic Center in a regional final game, and to feel it might have slipped through your fingers, and then to make that shot and for the place to go nuts ...; that was special for me," said Fontaine, named the most outstanding player of the tourney.

The state final was almost anticlimactic. The Hawks pulled away in the second half to beat Stearns of Millinocket, 55-34. The wide margin allowed Lewis to take out his seniors and starters, one by one, for well-deserved ovations.

There would be no repeat. Fontaine took her shot to Plymouth State. Marshall would go on to play at Bowdoin. Lewis would eventually step down and now calls Florida home. And Marshwood said good-bye to Class B after the 1996-97 school year, moving up to Class A.

Most of the players still live in New England, some of them locally. But getting the whole team back together, they agree, will be something special.

"Honestly, even though some of us live close together, life is busy and we end up doing our own thing," said Fontaine, who teaches sixth-grade social studies at Oyster River Middle School. "Just to see some of them again, and see their kids, will be nice."

The ceremony will take place at halftime. Petrie is hoping to have some game tapes from that season playing in the lobby to give fans a chance to take a trip back in time.

"I definitely appreciate it," said Jordan, who is the restaurant manager at Bob's Clam Hut in Kittery. "It's definitely a nice gesture. I think it will be real fun just to see everyone."

Some memories, after all, are worth bringing back into focus.

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Hawks can't catch Sanford at the finish