Cape Elizabeth’s Andrew Hartel fights for the ball during the Capers’ home loss to Waynflete last week.

Scarborough freshman Ariella Swett makes one of her 24 saves during the Red Storm’s 2-0 loss to Cheverus/Kennebunk last week.

(Ed. Note: For the complete Cape Elizabeth-Waynflete boys’ basketball, South Portland-Greely girls’ basketball and Scarborough-Cheverus/Kennebunk girls’ hockey game stories, see theforecaster.net)

As 2018 is about to give way to 2019, the early returns from the winter sports season are very promising for local squads.

Here’s an overview:

Boys’ basketball

Scarborough’s boys’ basketball team, the defending Class AA South champion, took a 2-3 record into Friday’s game at Edward Little in a rematch of last year’s state final, won by the Red Eddies. The Red Storm opened with a 64-52 home win over Sanford (Nick Fiorillo had 16 points and Paul Kirk added 15), then lost at home to Falmouth, 60-56 (despite 19 points from Kirk and 18 from Fiorillo), Bonny Eagle, 59-58 (despite 26 points from Brian Austin and 18 from Fiorillo), and South Portland, 69-54 (despite 16 points from Austin). Last Friday, Scarborough got back in the win column, 74-59, at Gorham, as Fiorillo went off for 32 points and Austin added 10. 

“We really needed this win after struggling the past three games,” Scarborough head coach Phil Conley said. “We made great decisions on the offensive end and we really rebounded the ball well on the defensive end. This was a total team win. Everyone that played tonight did their job.”

The Red Storm travel to Noble Wednesday of next week.

South Portland dropped a 53-40 decision at Deering in the opener (Scott Lewis had a team-high 12 points), then defeated host Cheverus, 63-45, (behind 15 points from Lewis and 11 from Hunter Owen), handed visiting Greely, the two-time defending Class A champion, its first loss in three years, 62-55 (Pamba Pamba had 17 points, David Fiorini added 13 and Cade Carr had 12), then won at Scarborough, 69-54 (behind Pamba’s 20 points and Geremi Baez’s 16). Last Friday, the Red Riots fell to 3-2 after a 56-52 home loss to Thornton Academy (Pamba had 19 points in defeat). South Portland welcomes Oxford Hills Saturday and plays host to Sanford Wednesday of next week.

In Class B South, Cape Elizabeth lost its first two games: 74-62 at Greely (Andrew Hartel had 23 points and Tanner Carpenter added 12) and 41-39 at Fryeburg Academy (Carpenter had 12 points and Hartel finished with 10), then downed visiting Old Orchard Beach, 74-29 (Hartel led the way with 21 points) and host Gray-New Gloucester, 62-55 (Carpenter had 17 points and Hartel added 15), before losing at home to Waynflete, 53-52. Hartel had 20 points and 11 rebounds, Nate Mullen added 12 points and Carpenter had 10, but the Capers missed four free throws in the final minute and couldn’t hold on.

“We’ve just got to be a little better,” said Cape Elizabeth coach Jim Ray. “We don’t have a lot of experience. Lack of poise showed up on multiple occasions, not just in the final minutes. We’ve identified it as a problem, we’ll see if we can fix it.”

Saturday, the Capers fell to 2-4 after a 71-64 home setback to Kennebunk. Hartel had a team-high 20 points, Mullen added 14 and Carpenter finished with 11. Cape Elizabeth battled Falmouth Thursday and goes to Westbrook Saturday (see theforecaster.net for both game stories).

In Class D South, Greater Portland Christian School started with losses at Seacoast Christian (65-21), Pine Tree Academy (64-14) and Temple Academy (68-14). The Lions return to action Jan. 12 at Forest Hills.

Girls’ basketball

On the girls’ side, Scarborough was 4-1 at press time and boasted the most impressive victory of the young season. The Red Storm opened with wins over visiting Sanford (41-38), host Falmouth (49-25) and Bonny Eagle (59-44) and after falling at South Portland, 55-36, Scarborough upset host Gorham, 50-36, to somewhat avenge last year’s regional final ouster. In the win over the Spartans, Madison Blanche led the way with 17 points. Against the Yachtsmen, Blanche, Kayla Conley and Bella Dickinson all had 10 points. In the win over the Scots, Josie Couture had 21 points, Blanche added 16 and Julia Freeman contributed a dozen. In the loss, Freeman led the way with 12 points while Couture added 10. Against the Rams, Dickinson had a team-high 16 points and Couture finished with 13. Scarborough hosts defending Class AA champion Edward Little Friday and welcomes Noble Wednesday of next week.

South Portland was also 4-1 at press time. The Red Riots opened with wins at Bonny Eagle (59-28) and Cheverus (58-42), then lost at defending Class A champion Greely (66-50) before bouncing back to defeat visiting Scarborough (55-36) and host Thornton Academy (52-23). Maggie Whitmore had 14 points and Kaleisha Towle added 11 in the wins over the Scots and Stags. Against the Rangers, Jena Leckie had 19 points, but South Portland fell short.

“We knew it would be tough,” said Red Riots coach Lynne Hasson. “I’m glad we played them because they’re great competition. They’re a very good team and they shot it well.”

Whitmore had a team-high 10 points in the win over the Red Storm and against the Golden Trojans, Leckie scored 13 points and Bela Cloutier added 10.

South Portland plays at Oxford Hills Friday and travels to Sanford Wednesday of next week.

Cape Elizabeth started with a 64-27 home loss to Greely (Brooke Harvey had nine points), then beat visiting Fryeburg Academy, 53-20, as Isabel Berman led the way with 14 points and Harvey added 13. After a 42-34 setback at Old Orchard Beach (Harvey had 15 points), the Capers won at Waynflete, 53-28 (Harvey scored 15 points and Berman added 12), then lost at Kennebunk, 51-21 (Harvey had a team-high eight points), to fall to 2-3. Cape Elizabeth hosts Westbrook Friday.

Hockey

Scarborough’s girls’ hockey team is off to a solid 6-2 start. Last week, the Red Storm dropped a tough 2-0 home decision to defending South Region champion Cheverus/Kennebunk, then won at Portland/Deering, 7-4. Ariella Swett made 24 saves in the loss.

“It was a great game,” Scarborough coach Caitlin Jordan said, after the loss to Cheverus/Kennebunk. “(Ariella) did amazing. I couldn’t ask for her to do any better than she did.” 

Evelyn Boardman and Taylor Veilleux each scored twice in the victory. The Red Storm welcome St. Dom’s Wednesday of next week.

The Cape Elizabeth/Waynflete/South Portland co-op team improved to 4-4 last week with an 8-0 home win over Winslow/Gardiner. The squad is back in action Wednesday of next week at home versus Portland/Deering.

On the boys’ side, Cape Elizabeth opened with home wins over Leavitt (4-1) and Kennebunk (10-1), then lost at defending Class B South champion Greely in a regional final rematch, 5-1. The Capers go to defending Class A South champion Biddeford Saturday.

Scarborough opened with a 3-2 overtime loss at Falmouth, then downed host Edward Little (3-0) and visiting Marshwood (4-1) to start 2-1. The Red Storm went to Massabesic Thursday and play at St. Dom’s Wednesday of next week.

The South Portland/Freeport/Waynflete co-op team opened with wins at Lake Region (6-1) and at home over York (10-5), then lost at home to Portland/Deering (6-2) and Massabesic (4-1) before improving to 3-2 Saturday with a 5-4 overtime win at Thornton Academy.

Indoor track

Scarborough’s defending Class A state champion boys’ indoor track started by winning a five-team league meet over Bonny Eagle, Portland, Gorham and Marshwood.

The defending Class A co-champion Red Storm girls placed fifth in that meet.

South Portland took on Biddeford, Cheverus, Falmouth, Noble and Thornton Academy. Both Red Riots teams placed fourth.

Results for Cape Elizabeth’s first league meet weren’t available at press time.

Swimming

Cape Elizabeth’s two-time defending Class B state champion girls’ swim team opened with a 134-46 win over Scarborough, then downed Bonny Eagle, 118-34.

The Cape Elizabeth boys lost to Scarborough, 93-76, then defeated Bonny Eagle, 100-15.

Scarborough’s boys beat Deering in their second meet, 101-61, and the girls lost to the Rams, 89-81.

South Portland’s girls edged Sanford, 82-81, in the opener, while the boys were victorious, 107-42. 

The Red Riots boys then downed Greely, 54-50, while the girls lost to the Rangers, 64-29.

Wrestling

Scarborough’s wrestling team started 0-4, losing to Biddeford (48-12), Cheverus (51-18), Portland (40-18) and Windham (42-20).

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