Class D South girls’ basketball semifinal: Rangeley breezes past Temple

AUGUSTA — Another day, another convincing tournament win for the Rangeley girls’ basketball team.

After walloping Greater Portland Christian on Wednesday, the Lakers repeated that feat Thursday with an impressive win over Temple Academy. Rangeley built another double-digit lead early and never looked back in a 60-23 romp.

Rangeley advances to Saturday’s regional final for the fifth straight year. The defending regional champs play Vinalhaven, which the Lakers defeated twice in the regular season.

“I think it was easier to come back the next day,” sophomore guard Natasha Haley said. “We had the same team intensity that we had (Wednesday). We knew all the girls coming off the bench would be just as intense as we were. So we knew it was going to be good.”

It was another dominant team win that enabled the Lakers to use its full roster and get contributions from the entire lineup.

Sophomore forward Sydney Royce led the Lakers (19-1) with 22 points while Blayke Morin added nine points, 11 rebounds 9 assists and four steals. Haley also had nine points. Celia Philbrick chipped in six points while Maddison Egan had six points and three steals. Amelia McMillan added seven rebounds with her two points.

“We’re just focused on playing our game and trying to set the tempo and really force the other team to make mistakes,” Rangeley coach Heidi Deery said. “We’re capable of doing that if we stick to our game plan.”

Temple provided a different look than Greater Portland Christian the day before. The Bereans pressed a little more and handled Rangeley’s press to some extent. The Lakers still forced over 30 turnovers and did a great defensive job on Temple’s Kiara Carr, who had 28 points in Wednesday’s win over Highview. She had only eight Thursday, six of which came in the second half.

“Our help side defense is pretty good,” Haley said. “All the rotations were really good on everybody. Everybody was talking and helping, which really made a difference.”

Rangeley also pushed the ball at the Bereans. The Lakers managed an abundance of fast break points that created the early lead.

“It’s something we’ve been working on all year long hoping when we got down here on the big court, especially with people who can get the rebounds for us,” Deery said. “They’re capable of making that long pass and really threading the needle.”

The Lakers were also able to find space inside for a lot of points. Royce was a force under the basket and Philbrick had a number of hoops in the post.

“There was a lot of pressure outside it seemed like,” Haley said. “So it was easy to make passes inside.”

Royce and Morin each had five points in the first quarter as the Lakers opened the lead. Morin hit a 3 and later fed Haley on a fast break that led to a three-point play and 13-3 lead after one quarter.

The Lakers then ran off 18 straight in the second quarter. Royce had eight during that run while Maddison Egan, all off transition plays, and Philbrick had four, scoring in the post. That had the lead up to 33-8 at the half.

Temple shot just 2-for-16 in the first half and had more than 20 turnovers. Veronica Rossignol led the Bereans (13-7) with 10 points.

The Lakers padded the lead in the second half with points from Brooke Egan, McMillan and Olivia Pye off the bench.

Saturday will be the ninth time in the past 11 years that Rangeley plays in the regional final. The Lakers toppled Vinalhaven 55-35 and 48-38 in January. The Vikings have a strong post player in Gilleyanne Davis-Oakes and some perimeter shooters.

“I expect they’ll come out and give us an opportunity to work hard,” Deery said. “We just have to stay focused. If we stay focused on what we need to do, we’re going to have to play 32 minutes.”

kmills@sunjournal.com

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