In his first year as head coach of the Central Maine Community College women's basketball team last season, Andrew Morong won a Yankee Small Conference championship and brought his team to the national tournament. The expectations for this year are higher, the perspective is a little different, but the goal is quite clear.
"As a coaching staff, we have a better idea of what to expect out of our conference and other opponent's on our schedule. We're happy we won last year, but last year has passed. The girls are all on the same page and we're treating this as a new season, not a title defense. It's a new group. We're not satisfied with anything. If everything bounces our way we certainly have the talent to make this year just as special as last year"
They lost Kayla Ellis and Tierra Durgin (Durgin is headed to Oak Hill to coach junior varsity high school basketball), who were big keys to last year's title run. Jamie Swart and Karlee Biskup are also gone, but Coach Morong hopes his recruiting efforts have refilled the shelves.
"We're going to be a different team this year," said Morong. "We have to adjust to the personnel we have, but we have talent coming back with (Fryeburg's) Ariel McConkey, (Oak Hill's) Maggie Sabine (who was named Most Valuable Player at the Yankee Conference Tournament last season) and (South Portland's) Danielle McCusker."
One of the newcomers, Maggie McConkey from Fryeburg, has not been given any special treatment even though her older sister is on the team.
"She doesn't really tell me too much," said the freshman. "I kind of like figuring things out for myself, which will help me when she's not here."
The differences between last year and this year will be noticed more in the team's style than anything.
"We're deeper and stronger than we were last year," said Morong. "The versatility is endless and is much improved over last year. The mindset is different this year, too. We also have a lot of competitors, Maggie being one of them, this year that are absolutely relentless on both sides of the ball. We'll be faster. We'll have a lot of energy, and once we get this clicking we are going to be really, really fun to watch. It's a new season."
McConkey chose CM for a variety of reasons over other schools.
"It was a lot more affordable than other schools I looked at," she said. "I really wanted to play basketball here to get my skills up so I can play at a higher level."
Morong's team started slowly last before finding their groove and winning their conference tournament last season. With the tournament being hosted at Central Maine Community College this season, he knows he needs to be in a similar position.
"It's extremely important (to be peaking at the right time)," said Morong of the Yankee tournament, which comes to the CM campus in February. "It's a huge advantage to be hosting it. It was fun to win it on our rival's court last year; it would be even more special in front of our home crowd and fans. It hasn't been hosted here for a couple of years, so we're looking forward to getting it back and running it right."
Newcomers to the squad this year include a couple of New Hampshire imports in Corinna Kinder and Susie French, while local kids Kylie Rolbiecki from Mt. Abram, Ashley Dorey of Spruce Mountain and McConkey look to chip in as well. They kick off their season with the Can-Am Tournament on October 27th.
"It's a lot of pressure to be hosting the tournament while being the defending champion," said Morong. "I think we're going to respond very well to it."
