Waterville girls' basketball team wins 44 in a row
Isaac Opper
Issue date: 3/12/08 Section: Local News
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The championship game started out difficult for Waterville. Lake Region began the game in a full court press and jumped out to a nine point lead. The Panthers, however, did not panic. Down 20-15 with less than five minutes left in the first half, Waterville went on a 14-0 run and never trailed the rest of the game. Lake Region made one more run, pulling within six points half way through the third quarter, but like any championship team, Waterville responded with a run of its own to put the game out of reach. This was a rematch of last year's championship game. In that game, the Panthers needed overtime to put away Lake Region, which has lost in the championship three years in a row.
As difficult as winning championships is, going undefeated is even more remarkable.
"It's really been an unbelievable run," Waterville Head Coach Ted Rioux told the Morning Sentinel. Rioux moved from Belfast to Waterville two years ago, and has yet to lose a game coaching the Panthers.
"It gets to the point sometimes where you win by 15 and [fans] say 'what went wrong,'' Rioux told the Sentinel. "I think they forget these are still high school kids."
Rioux knows that first loss will come at some point, but until then, he is happy to live with the results. With only one senior in the starting lineup this year, there's a good chance that he'll be able to continue the streak well into next year.
The girl's basketball team is not the only high school sports team in Central Maine to have success this season. The Waterville High School's boy's hockey team went 12-7-1 during the regular season. In the playoffs, the Panthers crushed the Bangor Rams in the Eastern A quarterfinals, a game played here at the Alfond Arena. The semifinals saw them squeak by the Brewer Witches, 4-3. Waterville's run came to an end in the finals, however, when it lost 5-2 to top-seeded Lewiston.
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