BANGOR—McAuley senior Alexa Coulombe is the state’s most intimidating defender, but she’s also a very nice young lady who’s multi-talented, a selfless teammate and oh by the way, a two-time Gold Ball winner.

Friday evening at Husson College, Coulombe capped her high school basketball career with the ultimate prize as she was selected Miss Maine Basketball, becoming the second Lion to be honored.

Just six days after leading McAuley to the Class A state title, Coulombe was selected over Cony’s Mia Diplock and Windham’s Meghan Gribbin as the state’s finest senior player at the annual Maine Association of Basketball Coaches awards ceremony.

Coulombe joins Ashley Cimino (2007) as Lions to win the award.

“It’s pretty awesome,” Coulombe said. “Mia and Meg definitely were competitive for this. Being chosen with them is an honor. I think they’re just as deserving. This last season was my best season. I think my team felt that way. This is just icing on the cake. Playing at McAuley was the best four years of my life.”

Coulombe, the daughter of Dennis and Mandi (and older sister of Lauren) Coulombe, of Falmouth, made an immediate impact as a freshman and was named all-conference in each of her four high school seasons. The 6-foot-2-inch forward/guard was also selected for the all-defensive team as a sophomore, junior and senior. She was named McAuley Winter Female Athlete of the Year as a sophomore. Her shotblocking skills had no peer and her ability to shutdown even the highest scoring opponent was evident regardless of the stakes.

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Coulombe could have been one of the league’s leading scorers this winter, but instead did whatever her team needed in its undefeated title run, finishing with an average of 11.6 points, eight rebounds, four steals, four blocks and three assists per game. She was named the Western Class A tournament’s top player/sportsperson as both a junior and senior.

McAuley coach Billy Goodman raved about his star player.

“I felt she was the best player all year,” Goodman said. “She’s a champion. She could have scored more, but she chose to be a great teammate. She became a great passer and shooter. She deserves it. Her leadership and wanting to win and wanting to get every kid involved, I really haven’t experienced that as a coach. I feel she’ll be a coach someday. She’s very mature and she cares about everybody on the team. It’s one thing to be a good player, it’s another to get this award. Her legacy is that she was a great captain and she was a great champion. Not too many players win two in a row. She’s got that special something.”

In her off-the-cuff acceptance speech (she left the original behind at the table), Coulombe thanked her parents, sister, grandparents and coaches Goodman, Amy Vachon (the 1996 Miss Maine Basketball winner), Dudley Davis and Kara Leary.

Off the floor, Coulombe is an honor student, who participated with the SMAA Student-Athletic Summit and Ethical Leadership. She’s volunteered with Winter Kids, Falmouth Elementary School and several camps at McAuley.

Coulombe will attend Boston College, on a basketball scholarship, next year.

Hampden Academy’s Christian McCue was named Mr. Maine Basketball. Bonny Eagle’s Cole Libby and Mt. Blue’s Cam Sennick were the other finalists.

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.

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McAuley senior Alexa Coulombe was chosen as Maine’s Miss Basketball Friday evening, bringing down the curtain on her sensational high school career.


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