This is the time of year for calculations and scoreboard watching for high school basketball coaches who hope to get their teams into the tournament.

The schedule hasn’t worked in Cony’s favor this season. The Rams play in the southern division of the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference and three of their opponents — Brunswick, Lewiston and Erskine aren’t worth many tournament points. They play each team in their division twice and the one northern team they play twice, Hampden Academy, was winless going into Wednesday night.

The Cony girls took a giant step toward reaching the tournament Monday and Josie Lee had a lot to do with it as she scored 28 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and drew an offensive foul with the game on the line to lead the Rams to a 60-59 win over top-ranked Edward Little.

WINTHROP — Winthrop will be one of those teams no one wants to face in the Western Maine Class C tournament next month. The Ramblers are improving that quickly.

The loss of two senior starters to injury could have a devastating effect on the Hall-Dale boys basketball team, but there may some hidden benefits, too.

Cony is not the same team that went unbeaten until the state championship game last season. The Rams graduated five players, including three starters from that team, but they could use a little of its karma.