PORTLAND — Gray-New Gloucester and Greely shook off their jitters in the first half and got down to business on defense in the second half of their Class A South girls basketball quarterfinal at the Portland Expo on Monday afternoon.

Gray-New Gloucester took advantage of Greely’s extended drought on offense before the Rangers finally scored in the closing minute of the first half. The second half turned into a tough, physical tussle before the Patriots opened up on the Rangers and slipped away with a 39-25 victory.

The second-seeded Patriots (16-3) will face sixth-seeded Freeport (11-8), which knocked off third-ranked Mt. Ararat 58-53 on Monday, in Wednesday’s regional semifinals at the Portland Expo at 1 p.m.

Sophomore forward Izzy Morelli led the Patriots with 15 points and Sophia Ippolito scored eight for seventh-seeded Greely (8-11).

“(Greely) is a really tough offensive team and we were just trying to shut them down — especially from (3-point territory),” Morelli said. “They are a great 3-point shooting team and I think that’s what we did — especially in the first half.

“I think everyone was a little bit nervous. I mean, most of us played in this gym last year. We got into the flow of the game, I think, after the first quarter. I think we went out there more confident and I think we were more prepared, especially, like I said, on the defensive end trying to stop them from shooting 3s. … And I think we shut them down, especially from the arc.”

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Both teams were plagued with numerous turnovers and struggled to score in the first half, but the Patriots squeezed out eight points in the first quarter for an 8-0 lead and then added another 10 in the second quarter.

With less than a minute left in the first half, Asja Kelman drove to the hoop and scored the Rangers’ first two points. Cece Berthiaume then hit an off-balance, buzzer-beating 3-pointer, but the Patriots held the high ground with an 18-5 lead.

Both teams turned up the heat with their defenses, but Gray-New Gloucester took command even though the Rangers’ shots also started to fall in a contested third quarter. Ippolito scored all of her eight points in the period and Berthiaume scored the rest of her seven.

Gray-New Gloucester senior forward Amber Fortin wasn’t at all surprised at the Patriots’ own second-half blitz on offense and defense.

“I think we really had it in us,” Fortin said. “The whole season, we have been pretty well like that, and I think that we knew we had to come out strong because they were going to come out strong as well. I think our defense was really strong tonight — one of the strongest defensive games I have seen us play. I think we really shut them down.”

Gray-New Gloucester coach Mike Andreasen said the defense helped bail out the Patriots.

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“We were more confident, obviously,” Andreasen said. “Early on, after we said to the kids, I was like, ‘(It’s) 6-0. Wow, this could be 16.’ I thought we missed some bunnies. Today our magical number was 32. We said we would keep it to 32 or less (points allowed and) we will look good. … The defense was good.”

Greely got within 28-20 in the third before Morelli made a key long-distance shot to give the Patriots a 31-20 lead after three quarters.

“(Izzy) made a 3-pointer late in the third quarter which kind of put a stamp on (the game),” Gray-New Gloucester coach Mike Andreasen said. “That kind of stopped the bleeding.”

Gray-New Gloucester kept its distance by scoring six of its eight fourth-quarter points from the free-throw line. Morelli made both her foul shots and scored the Patriots’ lone basket in the fourth, and Laney Farrar also made a pair of free throws as part of her eight-point output for the game.