Ed. Note: This story will appear in the April 9 edition of The Forecaster.

ALLIE CLEMENT, Senior-Basketball

  • Miss Maine Basketball

  • Maine Gatorade Player of the Year

  • Edward “Red’ McCann winner (MVP of Western A tournament)

  • SMAA Player of the Year

  • SMAA All-Star, first-team

  • SMAA All-Defensive team

  • SMAA All-Academic team

  • SMAA leading scorer

  • Captain

Take me off and put her on.”

After all the big shots, victory after victory and a plethora of citations, the essence of Allie Clement was summed up in that one simple sentence.

After learning that junior teammate and defensive wizard Olivia Dalphonse was bafflingly omitted from the Southwestern Maine Activities Association All-Defensive team, Clement, who was selected, offered to let Dalphonse take her place.

That selflessness was just the icing on a cake that won’t soon be seen again and the state’s finest girls’ basketball player is the repeat winner of this award after a historic senior campaign.

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Clement’s basketball roots are undeniable. Her father, Brian, played on a state champion at Lake Region High School and later at Colby College and her mother, Carolyn, played basketball, field hockey and later was a high jump standout. One younger sister, Sarah, is a Lion as well, but missed the year with a knee injury, while the youngest sister, Camille, is another budding star. Her aunt, Joanne Palombo McCallie,  is the coach of the Duke University women’s team and a member of the inaugural Maine Basketball Hall of Fame class. If that wasn’t enough basketball influence, Clement used to have one-time McAuley legend Sarah Marshall as a babysitter.

Clement, a Falmouth native, has long played for the Firecrackers AAU team (winning a national championship in the summer of 2011) and came to McAuley as a freshman, where she made an immediate impact with her clutch shooting, speed and poise. She only lost two games total in her first three seasons, each of which ended with a state title.

Clement’s senior season had some potholes, but she (and her teammates) rose to the occasion.

While injury and new faces in new places created closer games than in the past and the Lions even saw their 56-game win streak end, by February, they had returned to championship form.

For the regular season, Clement led the league in scoring with 18.3 points per game. She also grabbed 4.8 rebounds and dished out 2.9 assists (good for 10th in the league), was second in 3-point shooting and sixth in foul shooting.

In the playoffs, once again, she was at her best, scoring 14 points (to go with four steals and two assists) in a quarterfinal round win over Deering, 16 points (to go with four steals, two assists and two rebounds) in a victory over Portland in the semifinals and 23 points (to go with four rebounds, two steals and two assists) in a regional final victory over Windham. She won the regional tournament outstanding player/sportsperson award for the second year in a row.

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Then, in her finale, a state game win over Oxford Hills, Clement helped rally the Lions to victory with a clutch four-point play and a 3-pointer before the halftime horn as she wound up with 17 points, six assists, four steals, a rebound and a blocked shot.

Clement finished with 1,374 points, 347 rebounds, 265 steals and 239 assists for her career. She went 85-3 and joined a select list of players who won four state titles.

If that wasn’t impressive enough, Clement repeated as Maine’s Gatorade Award winner, then capped her career by being named Miss Maine Basketball.

“I wanted to win both, but I didn’t think I would,” Clement said.

Clement, who belongs to National Honor Society, is an honor student, the vice president of McAuley’s Varsity club and and also belongs to the Art, Ambassador and Spanish clubs, treasured her time on Stevens Avenue.

(McAuley’s) such a special place,” she said. “It’s cool to have been a part of it.”

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The next stop on Clement’s basketball journey is Division I Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., where she plans to play shooting guard and perhaps some point guard as well.

She leaves the state as one of the finest ever to lace up a pair of sneakers. Allie Clement, McAuley’s Winter Athlete of the Year, was a true champion in every way.

Coach Billy Goodman’s comment: “Allie’s a special kid. She’s a winner. She has it all: reach, a great shot, she knows how to attack and plays great defense. Her biggest strength is her mental makeup. She’s like a professional. When things get tough, she gets it in another gear. At the end of the day, she’s a just a very humble girl. She’s worked hard. She’s all about the team. I think she’s one of the top three high school players to ever play in Maine. She’s a four-time champion. What a champion she is.”

Previous winners:

2012-13: Allie Clement (Basketball)

2011-12: Alexa Coulombe (Basketball)

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2010-11: Rebecca Knight (Basketball)

2009-10; Alexa Coulombe (Basketball)

2008-09: Kristen Desrosiers (Swimming)

2007-08: Kristen Desrosiers (Swimming)

2006-07: Abby Wentworth (Basketball)

2005-06: Ashley Cimino (Basketball)

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2004-05: Tara Beaulieu (Basketball)

2003-04: Katie Donnelly (Track)

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

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Allie Clement


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