BY MORNING SENTINEL STAFF

This season, the Messalonskee girls were not just expected to be down, they were expected to crash and burn.

The Eagles were coming off a season where they had lost in overtime in the Eastern A final, but that team was scattered across college campuses. Messalonskee had no seniors on the roster and no returning key players.

"In the summer, I thought we'd be lucky to win two or three games, and it would take a great deal of effort to make that happen," Messalonskee coach Brenda Beckwith said. "It wasn't like we had youth and some experience. We didn't have any experience."

But with a fast-paced style, Messalonskee won several close games and reached the Eastern A quarterfinals at the Augusta Civic Center. The Eagles finished 10-10, about seven or eight games ahead of Beckwith's projections.

For her job coaching the Eagles this season, Beckwith is the choice for the Morning Sentinel Girls Basketball Coach of the Year. Also considered were Valley's Gordon Hartwell, Lawrence's Jason Pellerin, Waterville's Ted Rioux and Madison's Al Veneziano.

"This year, we were the underdog," Messalonskee point guard Ari Perry said. "We kind of proved to people that we weren't just rebuilding."

Beckwith has always remembered a conversation with then-Mt. Ararat coach Diane Fournier when Beckwith was starting out as the Winslow girls coach.

Beckwith was complaining that her team couldn't rebound, couldn't box out, couldn't do this, couldn't do that. Fournier waited until Beckwith was done, then told her, "If they don't know, it's because you haven't taught them right."

Since then, Beckwith has made a point to be a teacher as a coach, and she will often draw similarities between the two jobs.

"She gets the best out of all of us, that's for sure," Perry said.

For Beckwith, part of getting the best out of the Eagles this season meant a radical change to her offensive philosophy. Normally, she likes her teams to be patient on offense, set up screens, and work for a good shot. Messalonskee was anything but like that this season, racing upcourt and trying to shoot before the defense could react.

"I can be a very controlling person," Beckwith said. "I decided, with this group of girls, I wasn't going to do that. I looked at the personality of my girls. They're free spirited, down to earth, hard working. Nothing really upsets them. Those are teams, you can't hold them back, you can't rein them in, or else you're going to kill them."

The result was a style that was fun to watch, got lots of players involved, and was fun to play.

"It never gets boring," Perry said.

"She hates it when we slow it down. We're just a wicked fast team. We're smaller than other teams, (but) we're a lot faster."

Messalonskee beat Brewer in triple overtime and double overtime, but the game that got the most attention was a 64-59 loss to Skowhegan. The Eagles had 100 field goal attempts in that game, or more than three per minute.

"The kids saw what we were doing was not telling them what to do," Beckwith said. "I would love to shoot 100 shots a game, and that's my goal for next year. I want to be even more up-tempo."

Next season will bring a different challenge for the Eagles. With everyone back, they will be expected to improve.

Beckwith loves that, and knows a big reason for those expectations is what happened this season.

"I think what ended up materializing was something pretty fabulous, now that I look back on it," Beckwith said.

Matt DiFilippo -- 861-9243

mdifilippo@centralmaine.com