AUGUSTA — Kirsten Bigelow knows a thing or two about being a celebrity these days. In an area where basketball is part of the daily diet, Bigelow and the other athletes at Valley High are the resident LeBrons and Currys.

“If you see somebody, they’re always going to be like, ‘good game.’ They’re just always happy for you,” the sophomore said after the Cavaliers finished off Waynflete 71-26 last Saturday to win the Class D South girls championship at the Augusta Civic Center, just a few hours before the Valley boys grabbed the D South boys title with a 45-36 win over St. Dominic.

Valley serves two small towns — Bingham (population 866) and Moscow (475) — with a big appetite for basketball. The Cavaliers hope to reward their fans’ devotion with a pair of Gold Balls on Saturday, when the girls (21-0) face two-time defending champion Southern Aroostook for the state title at 1:05 p.m., and the boys take on Bangor Christian at 2:45.

The girls are searching for the first state title in program history, while the boys go for their first crown since 2016 and seventh overall. 

Valley’s girls teams won a pair of regional titles during coach Gordon Hartwell’s first stint on the bench (1997-2011). But several sub-.500 seasons followed and Hartwell, wanting to a chance to coach his granddaughters (three currently play for him), returned in 2021.

“I got sick of seeing them lose,” he said. 

The progress has been gradual but significant: The Cavaliers reached the D South semis in 2022 and the final in ’23 before winning the regional title this year.

There are many reasons for Valley’s revival under Hartwell, but the coach gave three key reasons after last Saturday’s win.

Build from the ground up  

“A lot of people did lot of hard work,” said Hartwell, citing the efforts of people at the junior high and youth levels. “There are a lot of people behind the scenes doing a bunch of things that contribute to the whole package. You’ve got to have the whole thing, top to bottom, for it work. And now, you’re just starting to see the players coming.”

And once they started coming, Hartwell got his players thinking basketball 24/7 and sent them up, down and around Maine to play in offseason leagues and tournaments. Old Orchard Beach, South Portland, Lewiston — Hartwell can tick off the locations with the speed of a Valley fast break.

“We put in a lot of games between last year and this year,” he said.

The games, going back to their youth teams, have turned the players into a very close-knit bunch, said junior Madeline Hill, a career 1,000-point scorer and one of Hartwell’s granddaughters. Hill has played with many of her teammates since she was in kindergarten; the chance to play for a Gold Ball is a the culmination of a dozen years’ effort.

“It feels awesome, because we’re slowly building up,” Hill said. “It’s good we’ve finally made it to this point. We’ve put in so much work, and it feels amazing that we’ve actually got to this point.”

Connect with the community

The closeness among the players has extended to the towns of Bingham and Moscow. Pep rallies are attended by everyone in the school system from kindergarten on up. Youth teams put on exhibitions at halftime of varsity games. 

And the athletes are expected to return that gratitude, Hartwell said. 

“Our varsity players — and junior high, everything — have a responsibility to extend out to them and be really nice, because they did it for my kids when my kids were in school, and again, it’s tradition,” Hartwell said. “That’s what you do. We help the little ones come up, and the little ones sustain you.”

The streets of Bingham are lined with signs wishing the teams good luck, and the boys and girls players were set to hop on a fire truck and parade down the streets of Bingham after last Saturday’s wins. The Valley side of the Augusta Civic Center was well-attended throughout the tournament.

“The whole community, they get pumped when it’s basketball season,” Bigelow said, “because it’s really what they look forward to.”

Put a winner on the court

Youth exhibitions and pep rallies are nice, but at the end of the day you need a winning varsity team if you expect fans to come out or congratulate you.

“We try to get everyone to buy into the culture,” Hartwell said. “Number one, you’ve got to expect to win. You may not win, but you should expect to win if they’ve done the work. And that’s what we’re trying to get everyone at all levels to do. You shouldn’t be happy when you lose. You can accept it, but you shouldn’t be happy.”

After last year’s loss in the regional final, Hartwell decided to toughen up the Cavaliers’ schedule, booking seven games against Class C schools, including Carrabec, Richmond and Monmouth, all of whom made the playoffs this season. Telstar and Wanyflete, two of Valley’s playoff opponents, were in Class C last year.

On the court, the Cavaliers play efficient, mistake-free basketball. Hill, a 5-foot-6 point guard, controls the action with her scoring, steals and rebounding, but she’s hardly alone. Rylee Clark, a 5-10 sophomore forward, had a double-double in a 63-27 semifinal win over Greenville, and the 5-6 Bigelow tied a D South tournament record with five 3-pointers in the Greenville win.

Against Waynflete in the championship game, Liana Hartwell, a 5-8 eighth-grader and another of the coach’s granddaughters, scored 17 points, while Valley forced 20 turnovers on defense.

And be forewarned: This many only be the beginning, according to Hartwell.

“You’re just starting to see the players coming,” Hartwell said. “We’re very young, we’re going to have everybody (our starters) back. But that being said, now the real mission comes on Saturday.”

And that mission comes against another small-town school that knows a thing or three about basketball. Southern Aroostook (20-1) — based in Dyer Brook (population 215), not far from Houlton — has won the last six Class D North titles, the most recent coming with its 71-27 domination of Katahdin 71-27 last Saturday. Sophomore Ally Shields scored 23 points for the Warriors, and sister Cami Shields added 18. The sisters combined for 50 points in an 81-39 quarterfinal win over Deer Isle-Stonington and 38 in a 57-35 semifinal win over Jonesport-Beals.

“I know one thing,” said Hartwell, who always wears a small gold-colored pin bearing the word “BELIEVE” on his sport coat. “Win or lose, the girls will keep playing hard through that whole game. If we’re in the game, we’ve got a shot at winning, and that’s what we’re looking for.”

• • •

Although the Valley boys own 14 regional titles, the Cavaliers’ ’24 crown is their first in eight seasons. Valley made history Feb. 2, when sophomores Harry Louis and Fisher Tewksbury eclipsed the 1,000-point barrier in the same game. Louis scored 19 points and Tewksbury 17 in the Cavs’ Class D South final win over St. Dom’s, while Ryon West pulled down 12 rebounds.

Bangor Christian (18-3), the No. 2 seed in Class D North, defeated No. 1 Schenck 38-25 in the regional final for its first title since 2003. Jalen Reed scored 15 points and Jesse Booker 10 for the Patriots. In the semifinals, Bangor Christian ended Southern Aroostook’s two-year reign as Class D state champs with a 40-33 semifinal win, with Reed scoring 18 points. 

Copy the Story Link

« Previous

Girls’ basketball: Previewing Saturday’s state championship games

Next »

Unified basketball: Winslow celebrates final home game with performance from KVAC B cheerleading champs