AUGUSTA — Searsport loves its zone defense.
Under coach Melvin Grant, the Vikings hardly ever play man-to-man. Searsport’s 2-3 zone is part of the reason it’s found its way to the Western Class D girls’ semifinals.
The No. 6 Vikings forced 20 turnovers and limited Forest Hills’ effectiveness in the paint in a 49-35 victory over the third-seeded Tigers at the Augusta Civic Center on Tuesday. Searsport will play Rangeley in the semifinals.
“We play zone all year,” Grant said. “We hardly ever play man-to-man. We’re extremely quick, but we just play a better team defense in zone. We’ve done it for three or four years now. We hardly ever play man. It’s just what we do.”
The Vikings (13-7) struggled to find their stroke from the field in the early going, but their defense held firm, limiting the Tigers to four points in the opening quarter. Trailing 4-3 mid way through the first, Searsport found its shooting touch and went on an 11-0 run stretching a minute into the second quarter. Melinda Ogden’s only bucket of the first half — a 3-pointer — gave the Vikings their only lead.
Ogden sat the bulk of the first half, picking up two quick fouls. In her absence, Anna Bucklin picked up the slack. She scored all 12 of her points in the first half, including eight of the team’s final 10.
The Vikings led 23-14 at halftime.
Bucklin didn’t score in the second half, but she didn’t need to. Ogden scored 18 of Searsport’s 26 second-half points and finished with a game-high 21 points.
“They’re really two of our three big players,” Grant said of Bucklin and Ogden. “We have three good scorers and Mel got in foul trouble in the first half, sat most of the first half, so Anne took over. We didn’t expect it, it just happens. Mel, we know what she can do. She can score 40 any night.”
The Vikings led by double digits throughout most of the second half. Searsport had 11 offensive rebounds in the second half and 17 for the game, leading to second-chance opportunities.
“I was pretty impressed with that,” Grant said. “Usually we’re not a great rebounding team, which might affect us a little bit in the next round, but we’re not a great rebounding team, typically. Today we were ready to play.”
The Tigers (15-4) never got closer than nine in the second half. Keely Taylor and Caitlin Logston each had eight points to lead Forest Hills.
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