Rangeley’s Brooke Egan pushes past Valley’s Rianna Davis during a Class D semifinal game Wednesday morning at the Augusta Civic Center. Sun Journal photo by Andree Kehn
Rangeley returned to its familiar spot as the No. 1 seed in the Class D South tournament this season after entering last year’s tournament as the No. 2 seed behind Vinalhaven.
Last year’s team returned to the regional final after a 2017 semifinal loss ended a run of five consecutive years reaching the championship round. That 2017 team was also a top seed, so the Lakers knew they couldn’t take anything for granted, even though they entered this year’s tournament with a 17-1 record and that top spot.
“We’re extremely happy to be back. Like I told the girls, it’s not an invitation. You have to work your way back,” Rangeley coach Heidi Deery said.
On Saturday, the Lakers will try to complete the work of returning to their first state final since 2016, when they beat Shead for the state crown. Former East-West conference rival Greenville, the third seed, awaits for an all-Lakers final.
The two teams did not meet during the regular season.
Since its only loss at Class C Buckfield (39-37), Rangeley has won 16 in a row. It has given up more than 40 points just twice all season.
“I’m extremely proud of the work that we’ve put in this season,” Deery said. “We’re happy to be there, and we’re going to come with a game plan that will give us an opportunity to win.”
VIKING SENIOR SAIL AWAY
Oxford Hills’ Janek Luksza passes to a teammate Tuesday during an AA North semifinals at Cross Insurance Arena. Portland Press Herald photo by Ben McCanna
Tuesday’s Class AA North loss to Edward Little marked the final game for Oxford Hills boys’ all-senior starting lineup.
Including reserve guard Jonny Pruett with starters Colton Carson, Will Dieterich, Janek Luksza, Garrett Record and Spencer Strong, coach Scott Graffam bids farewell to six seniors who led the Vikings to back-to-back 13-win seasons and regional semifinal appearances.
“This group of seniors has been very successful, all the way up through,” Graffam said, noting the success extended to football and baseball, too.
Transfers of classmates such as Matt Fleming (Bangor) and Nate LeBlanc (Winthrop) thinned the group out in recent years, but it still made the Vikings a formidable team when it was their turn.
“I am very proud of them,” Graffam said. “Despite all of those defections, we beat Greely at Greely, we beat South Portland at South Portland. We beat the number one team in AA North (Bangor), the number one teams in A North (Cony) and A South (Greely). It’s been a great year.”
GRAY-NG GETS GOING
Although top-seeded Gray-New Gloucester made its Class B South girls’ basketball quarterfinal win look easy, that doesn’t mean head coach Mike Andreasen wasn’t at least a little uneasy going into the game against No. 9 Maranacook.
“The first game is the hardest game because in a (No. 1 vs. No. 8 game or a No. 1 vs. No. 9 game), that’s the game that if you lose it everyone’s asking questions,” Andreasen said. “It’s, you know, the huge upset, or the one you should have won.”
All signs pointed to the Patriots being the heavy favorite. They didn’t lose a game against Class B South competition this season, their only loses being a pair of games to Class A South No. 1 seed Greely. Not to mention they returned everyone back from last year’s team that made it to the regional semifinals.
If the Patriots were rusty Tuesday, it didn’t show. The top team in B South jumped ahead 18-4 in the first quarter and didn’t let up from there.
“What I think was best for us was we didn’t play since the seventh (of February), and today was the 19th. So we hadn’t played in 12 days. We didn’t even have a scrimmage,” Andreasen said. “So just to get back on the court, and to give those kids, we kept them in midway through the fourth quarter even, just to get them a little bit more of a run.”
Once the Patriots got up by double digits, they kept it that way, and eventually won 61-27.
They’ll have a much shorter turnaround to their next game, which is Thursday against No. 5 Wells in the regional semifinals.
Oxford Hills had to change its strategy mid-game, Wednesday, thanks to Portland’s Gemima Motema and her relentless attacking of the hoop and rebounding in the second and third quarters of the teams’ AA North semifinal.
Oxford Hills coaches preached rebounding all week in practice, but Motema nullified a lot of what the Vikings were attempting on defense. After going man-to-man for the first half of the game, Oxford Hills coach Nate Pelletier switched it up and went with a zone.
“It hurt us a little bit on one or two possessions at the end, but I think switching to a zone was a big piece for us to be successful against them,” Pelletier said.
After the 1:40 mark in the third quarter, Motema recorded just a single rebound the remainder of the game as the zone helped cover her and stop her from attacking the basket.
Oxford Hills has hung its cap on its defense all season.
In the first game of the year against defending Class AA champs Edward Little, Julia Colby pressured the Eddies into a turnover and sprinted to the hoop for a buzzer-beating layup. The Vikings also limited EL to 35 points that game.
In the AA North final, the Vikings will take on a 6-14 Deering team that defeated Bangor in the semifinals, 34-17. Oxford Hills took down the Rams 53-19 earlier in the year, but now Deering has Delaney Haines, its best player, back from injury. The Vikings will have to adjust once again to reach the game, the state championship, they couldn’t get to last season.
“We are ready for any kind of defense they’re going to throw at us, it’s just if we can defend,” Pelletier said.
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