Greely heats up, rolls past Leavitt in Class B South girls’ semifinal

A close game through a quarter and a half turned into a rout, with second-seeded Greely shooting its way to a 58-36 victory at Cross Insurance Arena.

The sixth-ranked Hornets (10-10) — coming off an upset of No. 3 Fryeburg Academy in the quarterfinals — jumped on top 5-0 against the Rangers (17-3). That all came from the sophomore, Gilbert, who made two layups and hit on 1 of 2 free throws.

Greely coach Joel Rogers called a timeout, one that in his words was more of a reminder to his players of the task at hand, rather than to make any adjustments.

Molly Chapin hit a 3 out of the timeout, then Anna DeWolfe completed a three-point play a minute later to put the Rangers on top 6-5 midway through the first.

“We definitely had a lot of trouble getting going,” Greely junior Moira Train said. “We regrouped and got ourselves together.”

But Leavitt came right back, with Allie Belaire draining a 3 of her own to re-gain the lead for the Hornets. Train made two triples down the stretch in the first to make it 12-8 Greely eight minutes in.

“I thought we’d be better prepared for the physical nature of this game.” Rogers said. “I thought that we would respond better that way.”

Much of that physicality centered around forwards Gilbert and Chantel Eells. Gilbert provided the scoring, while senior captain Eells was a terror on the boards.

“When we were able to get the ball inside and score we were in the game,” Leavitt coach Dave Gerrish said. “They started collapsing a little bit and we started moving to our outside game a little bit, and we just couldn’t make 3s today.”

Belaire’s 3 was the lone make for the Hornets in the first half, and they missed 14 others to shoot just 6.7-percent in the opening half.

“I think if we would have shot decently I think we would have hung with them for a period of time,” Gerrish said. “I just think they shot a lot better than we did.”

The Rangers were 6-of-10 from behind the arc in the first half, with Train making half of those. She made two more in the second half and tied for the team lead in points, with 17.

“I guess I like the Civic Center,” Train said. “A lot of people don’t like shooting here because of the depth perception. I guess my shots were just falling. it didn’t really faze me that much.”

A layup by Gilbert midway through the second quarter cut the deficit to 17-15, but Train’s two 3s, then another from Sarah Felkel, made it 26-17 just over two minutes later.

The Rangers made 11 3-pointers as a team, and finished at a 45.8-percent conversion rate for the game on those shots.

“(Coach) tells us to keep shooting,” Train said. “He’s not a coach that will tell us to stop shooting if we’re missing.”

Greely pulled away in the third quarter, using solid ball movement to create open looks. The Rangers also made their free throws down the stretch, hitting on 9 of 13 attempts. Isabel Porter made all six of hers in the fourth quarter to equal Train with 17 points. DeWolfe added 11.

Gilbert finished with a game-high 19 points, while Belaire had eight (making both of Leavitt’s 3-pointers) and Eells six in her final appearance for the Hornets.

The game at Cross Arena was old hat for the Rangers, but a new experience for every Leavitt player except Eells. Gerrish hopes the rest of the players get another chance to play in one of the state’s biggest arenas.

“We’re only losing one senior,” Gerrish said. “If our kids go out and work at this summer and come back next winter, we hope to be back here next year.”

wkramlich@sunjournal.com