Basketball coaches use any motivation they can find this time of year. Nokomis beat Camden Hills 60-38 earlier this season, but if Nokomis coach Michelle Paradis wants a good reminder for her team, it’s that Camden Hills lost to Oceanside by nearly the exact same score at the end of the regular season — and then upset Oceanside in the quarterfinals.
No. 3 Nokomis faces No. 7 Camden Hills at 2:05 p.m., Wednesday, in the Eastern B semifinals at the Bangor Auditorium. Camden Hills is led by 5-foot-9 forward Jordan Knowlton, who averaged 19.9 points and 9.2 rebounds per game during the regular season.
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“They’re a lot bigger than we are, so we have to play bigger this game,” Paradis said. “If we don’t box out, they can control the boards.”
Of course, Nokomis has an exceptional rebounder in forward Anna MacKenzie, who averaged 14.1 points and 13.2 boards per game this winter. Taylor Shaw, Mikayla Charters, and sisters Kelsie and Kylie Richards are also too good to ignore offensively.
Nokomis has had some games this season where the Warriors controlled the game early, let the opponent back into the game, and had to rally in the fourth quarter to come away with the win. The quarterfinal win over Belfast was one of those games.
“We definitely need to get off to a great start, and just maintain it,” Paradis said.
After the Nokomis-Camden Hills game, No. 1 Presque Isle faces No. 5 Mt. Desert Island. Presque Isle loves to run and can rack up some huge point totals. MDI, which struggled at times in the quarterfinals against Winslow, prefers a slower pace and mainly looks to get the ball inside. Presque Isle defeated the Trojans by scores of 55-46 and 54-40 this winter. Those are the only games this season that Presque Isle has won by less than 28 points.
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
mdifilippo@centralmaine.com
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