Bangor Buzz: Ashland Hornets Girls Basketball

The Ashland Hornets posted a nine and nine record last season and graduated a good group of Seniors. Coach Ben Lothrop is in his second year of his second time around as Ashland's head coach and he's trying to bring his young hornets up to speed for a trip to Bangor.

"We had a pretty good team last year that played really good defense and I think that this group wants to do the same thing," head coach Ben Lothrop said. "We may have a couple more pure shooters than we've had in the past, so I'm hoping our offense is a little better and they work hard and that's the big thing they work hard."

One player they got back is their lone senior, Olivia Tardie, who sat out last season. Coach Lothrop hopes she provides a strong presence in the post, she's just happy to be back with her teammates.

"It's pretty nice to get back, I really missed it last year, I can't wait to go, hopefully, to go to Bangor with the girls," Tardie said.

Although she's the only senior, she isn't letting that seniority go to her head.

Coach Lothrop mentioned he hopes to improve on offense, one scorer who emerged last season was now sophomore Jamie Poulin. She's seen the success of the soccer team and believes the basketball team can play up to that level.

"We go far for soccer, there's no reason we can't go far for basketball, so we're excited and we want to go far for basketball," Poulin said.

To go far, they'll have to navigate a competitive schedule.

"We play a tough schedule, we play eight games in class C and those are going to be big challenges for us," Lothrop said. "We also have to play Easton, Van Buren, Wisdom, which are games we will need to work hard at and be competitive."