The Gold Ball has yet to make it into the trophy case at Waterville Senior High School. It´s still sitting on a table in the home of girls basketball coach Ted Rioux. So are the conference and regional plaques.
"We should all get a week," Waterville center Morgan Frame joked.
The Gold Ball and plaques will be on display at the school today but won´t be officially turned over until the banquet next Monday commemorating the team´s second straight Class B state championship.
"It´s really been an unbelievable run," said Rioux, whose team won its 44th straight game Friday night, beating Western Maine champion Lake Region for the title.
"This is something we´ll think about down the road," junior guard Paige Gardiner said.
Gardiner and her teammates are proud of their accomplishments, but they´re not resting on any laurels. With four returning starters, the Purple Panthers could run their string of titles to three and their winning streak could get into the 60s.
"Actually I was thinking a bit about that the other day," Gardiner said. "It´s exciting."
The Panthers will graduate Sarah Given and Kayla Smith, both key players, but also have a group of promising sophomores in addition to its talented junior class.
"We´re a very close group of girls," junior guard Stephanie Whitten said. "We´ve all grown up together."
Whitten said the pressure to win this year was greater because the team was expected to repeat and because they hadn´t lost.
"After last year, we knew we had to come out harder," she said. "Every team wants to beat the No. 1 team."
Rioux served as an assistant to Cony High coach Paul Vachon and his teams play a similar uptempo style, pressuring the ball and shooting 3-pointers when they can. They had the players to do it with Whitten, Gardiner, Given, Jen Nale and Frame. Along with the bench, this is a highly competitive group.
"When the game starts, they´re able to focus on one thing and that´s winning," Rioux said. "Once they get onto the floor, they´re focused."
That focus was helped by "psych parties" before each playoff game.
This season, they got together at the homes of Taylor Hart and Frame, whose father Doug is the athletic director. A team trip to a basketball camp at Boston College in the preseason was also helpful.
"That was so much fun," Gardiner said. "It was a way to get to know each other better and to know our coaches better."
In his two seasons at Waterville, Rioux has yet to lose. He´s not taking it for granted, but expectations have gone through the roof.
"It gets to the point sometimes where you win by 15 and (fans) say ´what went wrong,´ " he said. "I think they forget these are still high school kids."
The support at school has been great, Whitten said, especially from teachers, but the players would like more fans during the regular season even if some of those games aren´t that close.
After all, few teams can claim two straight championships let alone a 44-game win streak.
"It hasn´t hit me yet," Frame said. "It´s like a dream, still."
Gary Hawkins -- 621-5638
ghawkins@centralmaine.com
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