The Capital Area Hoop Classic appeared to pay immediate dividends for the Cony girls and boys basketball teams, both of whom beat Morse in regular season games Tuesday night.

I've made some disparaging comments about ugly basketball, and there were a few games like that Tuesday night. But the Skowhegan-Nokomis game was a gem, decided on Nokomis guard Kara Batchelder's 3-pointer at the buzzer.

This will be in the girls basketball notes in the newspapers later this week, but I wanted to mention this here so people could know about it sooner. It's a charity basketball night at Valley High School in Bingham.

When I went to Mt. View a week ago I saw a few things I had never seen before. This time, I saw two, and a pretty amazing comeback sparked by a player who didn't score all game.

Like a lot of small towns in Maine, and many larger ones, Richmond loves its high school basketball, even when the weather stinks. Friday night it stunk.

Former Messalonskee standout forward Ted Fabian is playing for Division III Fitchburg (Mass.) State University after two seasons with the Boston Bulldogs of the Atlantic Junior Hockey League.

For weeks, Heisman Trophy voters around the country have said how difficult it was to vote this year, with no clear cut favorite.

The same can be said by those of us who vote for the Fitzpatrick Trophy, awarded to the top senior football player in the state of Maine each year.

On Thursday, the three finalists for this year's honor were named: Billy Clark of Skowhegan, Nate Doehler of Bonny Eagle and Justin Staires of Mountain Valley.

I've had a vote for the Fitzy since 2002. This year had the strongest group of candidates I've seen.

For the girls basketball notes this week (which run each Thursday in the Morning Sentinel and Kennebec Journal) I talked to Lawrence coach Jason Pellerin. The Bulldogs are looking strong defensively and have a key matchup Thursday at home against Messalonskee.

The Gardiner boys basketball got off to a poor start this season, losing its opener handily to Rockland. Worse yet, the Tigers were assessed three technical fouls, coming across as sore losers.

Waterville and Mt. View are clearly two of the top teams in Class B. Waterville has won 50 games in a row and the Mustangs have more size than anyone in the KVAC B. But understandably, not everyone was at their best early on.

I came across some writing today, and it got me thinking about the Heal points. As you know, whether you lose by 68 points or by one in triple overtime, the Heal points system gives you the same number of points for that game (zero). So I've wondered whether this is the best way.

The state's top two basketball players last season, Winthrop's Sam Leclerc and Maranacook's Ryan Martin, are discovering life at the Division I college level is a much tougher environment than high school.

Messalonskee swept Brewer last season, but two of those games were epic matchups, with Messalonskee winning in triple overtime and double overtime. The teams are scheduled to meet for the first time this season at 6:30 p.m., Friday.

The weather could still play a part in that, but the game still could be played even if school is canceled at Messalonskee. There is no state-wide policy regarding games on days when school is canceled, and at Messalonskee, the games still can go on if the weather clears up.

And yes, the 6:30 p.m. start time is correct. Messalonskee does not have a freshman team this season, so all evening home games will begin at 6:30 p.m.

A decision will likely be made by late Friday morning and the Morning Sentinel and Kennebec Journal websites will have information if area games are postponed.

New York Knicks guard Cuttino Mobley, who played his prep basketball at Maine Central Institute, retired on Thursday. Mobley said his doctors told him his heart disease has gotten worse.

Mobley has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The condition causes the heart muscle to thicken, making it harder to pump blood. Doctors told the 33-year old Mobley that if he continued to play, his health was at serious risk.

Mobley left MCI for the University of Rhode Island in 1993.He played for five teams in his 11-year NBA career: Houston, Orlando, Sacramento, the Los Angeles Clippers and New York.

Mobley's best season was 2001-02, when he averaged 21.7 points per game for the Rockets. Mobley averaged 16 points per game for his career.

Cony girls basketball fans may have been disappointed in the team's home loss Wednesday night to Edward Little under first-year coach Karen Sirois. After all, her predecessor and former coach, Paul Vachon, didn't lose 10 home games in 23 years.

For our girls basketball notes this week (which will run each Thursday in the Morning Sentinel and Kennebec Journal), I talked to Madison coach Al Veneziano. Here's a preview of the article.

Here are a few extra stats from Tuesday night's Skowhegan-Messalonskee girls basketball game. Messalonskee won, 52-42, holding off a late Skowhegan rally to improve to 2-0 on the season.

The University of New England women's basketball team will be playing two games in central Maine in the coming weeks. The Nor'easters start two freshmen who are central Maine high school graduates and play at UMaine-Farmington at 1 p.m., Saturday and at Colby on Jan. 3.

The girls basketball game between Skowhegan and Messalonskee is still on for tonight in Oakland. Weather.com is predicting that Oakland is done with precipitation until 7 p.m., when the area will get "freezing drizzle." Rain is then in the forecast at every one-hour interval until 9 p.m., Wednesday, when it turns to snow showers.

The game is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start at Messalonskee High School and matches two of the top teams in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A. Both teams won their openers on Friday.

Luke Thomas envisions a website where sports fans around the state can contribute articles and upload videos and photos. There's not much on there now, but it's an idea with a lot of potential.

OK, so we know the Waterville girls basketball team is good. Really good.

What should have been a better game between the Rockland and Gardiner boys basketball teams turned into a foul-fest Friday night in the season opener for both schools.

Before Friday night's girls basketball season opener between Lawrence and Skowhegan, Skowhegan coach Heath Cowan took a microphone and asked people to donate to the 50/50 raffle.

"I know times are tough," Cowan said. "But if you can spare a dollar, go get a 50/50. It's going to a wonderful cause tonight."

Every season, the central Maine high school football officials award a sportmanship trophy to one of the area teams.

This season, the trophy went to Messalonskee.

The Eagles accepted the award at halftime of Friday's boys basketball game. Messalonskee reached the Pine Tree Conference quarterfinals this season, losing a close game to Edward Little of Auburn, 28-21.

While winter sports are in full swing, there's one local athlete who is still competing in a fall sport on Dec. 5. It's Meg Willette, a Waterville grad who now plays soccer at Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn.

The MHW Hawks have new hockey uniforms, and each of the three high schools -- Maranacook, Hall-Dale and Winthrop -- are represented.

Gardiner Area High School's Hailey Chadbourne and Skowhegan Area High School's Kylie Damon were selected as finalists for the Miss Maine Field Hockey award, which will be handed out at the annual banquet on Sunday.