Trio of girls from iconic Maine basketball families lead talented Class C North
By Larry Mahoney, Bangor Daily New Staff
Stearns of Millnocket has another Alley. Central of Corinth has another Allen and Penobscot Valley of Howland has another Ireland.
Alisyn Alley, Izzy Allen and Emilee Ireland are following in the footsteps of their older sisters at their respective schools, which are among the contenders for the Class C North championship this season.
Interestingly, their mothers were all standouts at Husson University in Bangor.
The former Kristi Wildman, Alley’s mother, and Sue Ann Allen, Alisyn’s mom, are in the Husson Sports Hall of Fame and the former Becky Moholland, Emilee’s mother, was a 1,000-point scorer in her college career at UMaine Machias and Husson and is in the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame.
Alisyn’s older sisters, Raychel, Emma and Katherine; Allen’s sisters Sydney and Abi and Ireland’s sisters Sami and Lexi were all outstanding athletes.
Central Aroostook High School of Mars Hill won the Class C state title in 2019-20 but the two catalysts, Maci Beals and Bre Bradbury, have graduated and the Panthers have a new coach in Krystal Kingsbury Flewelling, who was an assistant at CA under her brother Dillon Kingsbury.
Dillon Kingsbury has replaced Ralph Michaud as the assistant girls coach at Presque Isle.
Emilee Ireland, a 5-11 center-forward, will be a force in the paint for Nate Case’s Howlers and she will have a good supporting cast including the Loring twins, Kaya and Mia, Mia Neal and freshman Ellie Austin.
PVHS won the C North crown in 2018-19.
Alley was the Penobscot Class C Pod Player of the Year last season when she averaged 18 points, eight rebounds, five assists and five steals, Stearns coach Nick Cullen said.
“She does everything for us. She is a great basketball player.”
Alley was a Bangor Daily News All-Maine Schoolgirl honorable mention two years ago.
He also has another consistent double-digit scorer in Makayla Anderson and a solid post player in Kasey Kenyon. Kelly Farber was the sixth man last season and is ready for more prominent minutes.
“We have the potential to be good,” Cullen said.
Izzy Allen, a 5-foot-10 point guard, verbally committed to the University of Maine as a 15-year-old freshman after averaging 18.3 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.9 steals and 2.1 assists last season.
“She concerns me. She’s the real deal,” Cullen said.
Guard Rylee Speed and 5-10 center Abby Young will headline the supporting cast but coach Jamie Russell said they will need to develop some depth.
Defense-minded Dexter is always in contention under head coach Jody Grant but he won’t have his high-scoring daughter, Peyton, who scored over 1,000 points and was a third team BDN All-Maine choice two years ago.
She is playing at New Hampton School, a preparatory school in New Hampshire.
But Grant said he is “excited” and “invigorated” by his new challenge.
“We had a real good summer. We have some young players but they’re eager to learn. We won’t be getting 30 points from Peyton but we have a lot of kids capable of giving us eight to 14 points,” Grant said.
Elizabeth Kinney is a two-year starter and he is also looking for good things from Jozlynn Page, Jillian Poliquin and Abilene Corson along with Mazie Peach, sister of former Dexter star and current Husson player Megan Peach.
Diane Rollins, who averaged over 12 wins a season in 16 years at Central before resigning in 2017, is the new coach at Piscatatquis Community High in Guilford and said her team could “surprise some people” with point guard Sydney Hutchins, 6-footer Elizabeth Kendall and forward Abbey Ricker leading the way.
Larry Gardner’s Fort Fairfield Tigers are always in the mix.