It was a typical uneventful Monday morning at Leavitt Area High School as far as Kristen Anderson was concerned Monday.

Then the text message came while she was at lunch.

It was her father, Mark. He was passing along the news that she was one of the finalists for Miss Basketball.

“It was definitely exciting,” said Anderson. “I was really happy that all the hard work that I’ve put in has paid off.”

Anderson joins Presque Isle’s Chandler Guerrette and Waynflete’s Martha Veroneau as the final three candidates for Miss Basketball.

The Mr. Basketball finalists were Garet Beal of Jonesport-Beals, Medomak Valley’s John Murray and Washburn’s Mitchell Worcester.

The Mr. and Miss Basketball Awards will be presented Friday  night at Husson University at the Maine McDonald’s High School Senior All-Star Awards Banquet.

“It’s nice to get noticed for things like this for all the work you put in.,” said Anderson. “It’s great to be mentioned with players like Chandler and Martha.”

Anderson had been named among the 10 semifinalists during tournament week, so she knew the final three would be announced this week.

“I always thought that it could be possible, but there’s a lot of huge names. ” said Anderson. “So I wasn’t sure it might happen.”

Anderson was a 1,000-point scorer for Leavitt as a junior and averaged 20 points, five assists and six rebounds this season.  She led the KVAC and the state in scoring last season. She’s a member of the National Honor Society and was a key part of the Hornet’s KVAC championship team and Class B state title team in 2011. The Hornets went 72-11 during her career.

This season she battled an ankle injury for much of the year and missed a third of the team’s games.  She was still not 100 percent when Leavitt lost to Greely in the Western B quarterfinals.

“I think it’s nice individually,” said Anderson, who will play at the University of New Hampshire on a scholarship next year. “Team-wise, I would have liked to have gone a little further, but it’s nice to be recognized individually.”

Guerrette averaged 14.8 points this season and became a 1,000-point scorer for the Wildcats. She’s a National Honor Society member and helped lead Presque Isle to a second straight state championship. She scored 33 points to lead the Wildcats over Lake Region last Friday. It was her team’s 44th straight win. Guerrette went 71-2 in her career at Presque Isle and will play at Husson next year.

Veroneau averaged 19.8 points for the Flyers and became the school’s all-time leading scorer. The Boston College-bound guard helped lead her team to its first state championship in Class C with 34 points a win over Calais Saturday.

“I don’t think I’ll worry about it too much,” said Anderson about waiting until Friday to hear the winner. “Whoever wins will deserve it. Out of the three of us, anyone of us could possibly win, so I don’t really worry about it. It would be great to be Miss Basketball, but if not, the other candidates are well deserving. It’s an honor to be a finalist and to be in the McDonald’s all-star game.”

Beal averaged an astonishing 33.8 points and 10 rebounds for Jonesport-Beals. He led his team to a Class D state title as a junior and became the school’s all-time leading scorer this season, breaking the record held by his father, Lindell. Beal will play at the University of Maine next year.

Worcester averaged 26 points, eight assists and eight rebounds for Washburn. He became the all-time leading scorer at his school as well.

Murray scored 18.6 points and had 12 rebounds per game for the Panthers. The Medomak Valley center was the KVAC B Player of the Year and helped lead the team to the Western B championship game, before losing to Falmouth.

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