(Ed. Note: For the complete South Portland-McAuley girls’ basketball and Capeflete-Greely girls’ hockey game stories, with photos, please see theforecaster.net)

Here’s some good news for those who don’t like the snow and cold.

Winter is half over.

Well, the winter sports season is halfway finished anyway.

As we hit the middle of January, it’s time to start thinking about earning enough wins to qualify for the playoffs and about postseason positioning.

Here’s a glimpse at where things stand after another busy week:

Boys’ basketball

Cape Elizabeth’s boys’ basketball team is rounding into the form so many expected from it back in the preseason. The Capers extended their win streak to five and improved to 9-2 after recent victories over visiting Gray-New Gloucester (71-58), host Yarmouth (65-52) and visiting Traip Academy (63-41). Against the Patriots, Ethan Murphy had 16 points, while Eddie Galvin and Justin Guerette both added 14. In the win over the Clippers, which avenged a 13-point home loss from earlier in the season, Quinn Hewitt went off for 22 points, while Galvin had 19 and Finn Bowe added 13. Cape Elizabeth held Yarmouth to just 16 second half points as it rallied from a four-point halftime deficit. Four players reached double figures versus the Rangers. Jack O’Rourke led the way with 15 points, while Galvin had 13, Guerette 12 and Murphy 10. After hosting Kennebunk Friday, the Capers (fourth in the Western Class B Heal Points standings) are idle until next weekend when they go to York Friday and Greely Saturday.

In Western A, South Portland was fourth at press time with a 9-2 mark after defeating visiting Biddeford, 69-53, Tuesday. Jaren Muller and Matt Pelletier both had 14 points, while Ruay Bol added a dozen. The Red Riots host Cheverus Friday (see theforecaster.net for game story) and go to Marshwood Monday.

Scarborough was eighth at 7-5 after a 62-57 loss at Marshwood and a 64-54 home win over Windham last week. In the setback, Milani Hicks had 18 points and Nate Wessel 15. In the victory, Hicks had 26 points and Wessel added 15. The Red Storm return to action Friday at Bonny Eagle. Tuesday, they host undefeated, defending Class A champion Portland.

In Western D, Greater Portland Christian School fell to 2-7 and 16th after recent losses at Sacopee Valley (75-43) and at A.R. Gould (54-48). The Lions went to Highview Christian Thursday and host Forest Hills Monday.

Girls’ basketball

On the girls’ side, South Portland had a chance to make a statement last Friday when four-time defending Class A champion McAuley paid a visit. The Red Riots hung tough in an exciting first half and were only down one point, 27-26, at halftime, but they went cold in the second half, managing just 10 points and went down to a 45-36 defeat. Megan Graff and Lydia Henderson each had 14 points, but it wasn’t enough.

“Everything feels like a contradiction,” South Portland coach Lynne Hasson lamented. “(Tonight’s) both discouraging and encouraging. We have to analyze what’s going wrong. We’re not running our offense efficiently at times and we don’t get open looks. We don’t look like we know what we’re doing. I still believe we’re one of the best rebounding teams around. We have to really focus on getting to the glass offensively. We have to make that a focus. We have to be more focused on offense. The things that make great basketball teams, waiting on screens, using screens. We want to attack the basket.”

South Portland bounced back Tuesday to defeat visiting Biddeford, 59-35. Maddie Hasson had 19 points, Megan Graff added 13 and Abby Cavallaro had 11. The Red Riots (8-3 and sixth in the Western A Heals) host Cheverus Friday (see theforecaster.net for game story) and welcome Marshwood Monday.

Scarborough was 10th at 5-6 after a 48-42 home win over Marshwood and a 48-21 loss at McAuley. Ashley Briggs had 20 points in the win. Sophie Glidden had eight points against the Lions. The Red Storm host Bonny Eagle Friday and visit Portland Tuesday.

In Western B, Cape Elizabeth found itself 6-4 and 12th at press time (10 teams make the playoffs). The Capers lost last week at Gray-New Gloucester (54-46) and at home to Yarmouth (50-35), then won at Traip Academy Tuesday (61-33). Against the Patriots, Montana Braxton had 19 points. Braxton had 11 points and Maddie Bowe 10 in the loss to the Clippers. Braxton had 17 points and Bowe 16 in the victory. Cape Elizabeth goes to Kennebunk Friday and hosts Lake Region Monday.

In Western D, GPCS was 1-7 and 15th after a 57-32 loss at Sacopee Valley last Friday. The Lions were home with Highview Christian Thursday and welcome Forest Hills Monday.

Hockey

On the ice, Scarborough’s boys earned a statement win Saturday, 3-1, at two-time defending Class A champion Falmouth. The Red Storm somewhat avenged losses in the past two regional finals to the Yachtsmen thanks to two goals from Cam Smith and another from Colin Hayward. Scarborough (6-3-1 and second to Falmouth in the Western A Heals) was at Gorham Wednesday, goes to Cony/Monmouth Saturday and plays at Lewiston Monday.

South Portland was seventh at 5-4 after a 5-2 home loss to Brunswick and a 7-1 home victory over Westbrook. Kyle Halvorsen and Chris Mitchell had the goals in the loss. Andrew Whipple had a hat trick and Halvorsen added two goals in the victory. The Red Riots were at Mt. Ararat Thursday and visit Marshwood Saturday.

In Western B, Cape Elizabeth improved to 5-4 and fourth in the Heals after wins at Portland/Deering (5-2) and at home over Greely (3-1). Ben Ekedahl and Alex Glidden had two goals apiece in the win over Portland/Deering. Against the Rangers, Glidden scored twice and Matt Riggle tickled the twine as well. The Capers were home with Edward Little in a makeup game Wednesday and visit Yarmouth Monday.

On the girls’ side, defending state champion Scarborough made it five wins in a row with a 6-1 home victory over York Saturday. The Red Storm improved to 9-2 and are first in the West Region Heals. Scarborough was home with Portland/Deering Thursday, plays at Greely Saturday and pays a visit to Lewiston Monday.

Capeflete was third at 7-5 after a 6-2 home loss to Greely and wins over host Portland/Deering (6-0) and visiting Cheverus (4-0). In the loss, Kathryn Clark and Hannah Bosworth had goals, but it wasn’t enough, as two Rangers had hat tricks.

“I thought the girls played hard overall, they battled,” said Capeflete coach Bob Mills. “Greely’s a good team. I hadn’t seen them play until today. I knew those players were good, but we tried to keep our systems in play. I think between the second and third periods, we talked about not being intimidated by their speed, being engaged, not sitting back and watching them and going after the puck a little more.”

Bosworth had two goals in the win over the Stags.

Capeflete was home against Gorham/Bonny Eagle Wednesday, welcomes Yarmouth/Freeport/Gray-New Gloucester Saturday and goes to Edward Little/Leavitt Monday.

Indoor track

Cape Elizabeth’s boys’ indoor track team was second to Greely in a nine-team league meet last weekend. The Capers got wins from Mitch Morris in the mile (4 minutes, 38.80 seconds), Nathan Weare in the senior shot put (40 feet, 1.5 inches), Tucker Wanzer in the senior 55 hurdles (11.08 seconds), Luc Houle in the junior shot put (33-2) and Hajmil Carr in the junior 55 hurdles (11.08).

Cape Elizabeth’s girls were fifth. Morgan Carpenter won the senior high jump (4-8). The open 4×800 relay team also came in first (10:54.51).

Friday, in the late meet, the Capers compete against Freeport, Gray-New Gloucester, Greely, Lake Region, St. Dom’s, Yarmouth and York.

There was no SMAA meet last weekend, but some local standouts turned heads at the Dartmouth (N.H.) Relays. South Portland’s Daniel Guiliani won the shot put with a throw of 58-7.5, which broke the school record. Teammate Michael Cuesta was second in the triple jump (44-4). Scarborough’s Griffin Madden placed second in the 55 hurdles (7.87). Teammate Sam Rusak was third in the pole vault (14-6).

Local runners, jumpers and throwers are back in action Saturday. Scarborough faces Deering, Marshwood and Windham, while South Portland competes against Biddeford and Gorham.

Swimming

Cape Elizabeth’s boys’ swim team handled defending Class B champion Greely Friday, 109-45. The Capers girls lost to the Rangers, 89-78. Cape Elizabeth is at Falmouth Friday.

Scarborough’s boys beat South Portland, 101-67. The Red Riots edged the Red Storm, 94-89.

Scarborough hosts Sanford Friday. South Portland’s girls host McAuley Friday and the boys return to action Jan. 23 versus Greely.

Skiing

The Western Maine Conference Alpine ski season began Monday with a slalom meet at Shawnee Peak where Cape Elizabeth did battle with Freeport, Fryeburg Academy and Yarmouth. The Capers girls were second to the Clippers, while the boys came in fourth (the Falcons were first). Individually, Emma Landes (a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 35.42 seconds) and Emma Dvorozniak (1:35.61) had the top two spots in the girls’meet. The Cape Elizabeth boys were paced by Jon Fiutak (11th, 1:51.11).

Cape Elizabeth’s Nordic ski team participated in the Hornet Classic Saturday, where the boys were eighth and the girls placed 18th. The top male finisher was Daniel Menz, who was 23rd in 16 minutes, 31.3 seconds. Rhoen Fiutak (53rd, 22:07.06) paced the girls.

Wrestling

Scarborough’s wrestling team fell to 0-6 last Wednesday with a 78-6 loss to Marshwood. After going to Deering Wednesday, the Red Storm take part in the Southern Maine Classic Saturday at Noble and visit Windham Monday.

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