The Boothbay Region Special Olympics basketball team traveled to the University of Maine at Orono Wednesday, March 13 to play in the Central Maine Tournament and Skills Competition. There were 12 teams competing.

The Boothbay team played its first game against the Lewiston Navigators Team A. They were tough and kept Boothbay on the run and unable to set up their defense. Boothbay lost, 26-11. Brian, Josh and Brandon were the high scorers for the Navigators. Boothbay's Adam Jackimovicz was able to get rebounds but Boothbay was unable to score enough. High scorer for Boothbay was Brenda LeConte with 7 points, while Joey Ranco and Thomas Wilcox each dropped in 2 points.

In the 11 and under skills contest, Vincent Giles took a 5th place, Kasey Graves took a 4th, Cameron Serino won a silver medal, Logan Posey took a 6th, Chloe Desjardins took the gold medal, Matthew Hyson brought home a 4th, Grace Giles received a 6th, and Blake Smith, Bobby Edwards and Deshawn Averill tied for 7th place.

There were many competitors, especially from the Bangor schools and the divisions were vast. The Boothbay students did very well and their improvement was enormous, said teacher and coach Toby LeConte. Unfortunately for the athletes who had been practicing for team play, there were no other elementary teams registered. It was a disappointment, but the rules had to be followed.

In the 12- to 15-year-old skills division, Amber Hyson brought home the 4th place ribbon and Valerie Giles, the Bronze Medal. The skills were passing, scoring and dribbling.

In the final team game, Boothbay played Downeast Horizons. It was an exciting game. Boothbay took the lead early on and led at the half by 10 points. Boothbay was able to set up both their defense and offense. Donny Dunning and Matt Farnham joined Adam Jackimovicz gathering rebounds,

while Ronda LeConte, Danny Miller and Stephen Reed moved the ball into good positions to shoot. Thomas Wilcox was able to penetrate and lead the scoring with 8 points. Brenda LeConte had 4 points and both Stephen Reed and Joey Ranco scored 2 each. Time ran out and Boothbay lost this game 18-16. A very disappointed team went to the locker room. They finished in fifth place in the tournament. We were assisted by a much needed group of peer helpers: Cormac and Sinead Miller, Lisa and Lynn Pawlowski, Aaron Campbell, Riley Spear, Shannon Murphy, Maddie McLellan and Joseph and Anthony DiMauro.