FARMINGDALE — The Traip Academy girls’ basketball team began the fourth quarter of its Class C South preliminary-round game Tuesday with a 14-point lead over Hall-Dale. But as Hall-Dale chipped away at their deficit, Traip Coach Scott Blake reminded his team about the most important fact.
“I was like, ‘Girls, we’re still ahead. All we’ve got to do is keep the ball. They’ve got to make shots,'” Blake said. “Once we figure out we don’t have to score, then our composure comes back a little bit.”
While fifth-seeded Hall-Dale eventually cut Traip’s lead to two, the 12th-seeded Rangers held on for a 39-35 win.
Traip (8-11) will face No. 13 Madison in the quarterfinals Tuesday at the Augusta Civic Center. No. 5 Hall-Dale ends the season at 12-7.
“That’s a scrappy team,” Hall-Dale Coach Jarod Richmond said. “(They) play a tough schedule, too, and they were well-tested. They were quick. They gave us a lot of trouble with their quickness, and things just weren’t falling for us.
“It’s a bummer. We really feel like we’ve come a long way.”
Traip led 14-10 after a turnover-filled first half. The Rangers scored the last four points of the second quarter, then got the first eight of the third to take a 22-10 lead. Hall-Dale answered with a 7-0 run, but Traip closed out the quarter with a 10-1 surge to take a 32-18 lead into the final quarter.
“For us, it was a matter of keeping the tempo under our control. We struggled with that all season,” Traip guard Addy Hale said. “My fellow guards and I have a tendency to speed things up when it’s not necessary. First half, we shot terribly. We were rushing things.”
After turning the ball over 27 times in the first three quarters, Hall-Dale settled down in the fourth, and that helped make the game close. K.K. Wills made a 3-pointer with 1:10 left to cut Traip’s lead to 35-32. A 3-pointer by Grace Begin with 26 seconds left made it 37-35. After Kiki Huntress (10 points) sank one of two foul shots for Traip with 18 seconds left, a Wills offensive foul gave the ball back to the Rangers. Hale (11 points) hit a free throw with 9.4 seconds to play to seal the win.
“I thought we were a little quicker than them, and they’re young, too. We stayed on their rights and made them use their weaker hand. I thought with our quickness, we’d be able to get a couple steals, and we did,” Blake said. “We had a lot of turnovers, though.”
The Rangers overcame their own 25 turnovers, foul trouble, and Hall-Dale’s 23 offensive rebounds.
“We’ve dealt with (foul trouble) all year, and we get them at the worst times. We’re guarding a girl at half court, and we’re reaching for no reason. Mentality-wise, we’ve always tried to be aggressive, because we want to be aggressive. Unfortunately at times, it gets us in trouble,” Blake said.
Hall-Dale was 8 for 27 at the free-throw line.
“We got them in foul trouble and got to the line, we just couldn’t finish it,” Richmond said. “I thought our shot selection could have been a little better, but Traip was kind of forcing the issue for us.”
Hall-Dale started three freshmen, but Richmond didn’t want to blame inexperience.
“I don’t think it was just our youngness that was a factor tonight. It was a lot of everything. We fought hard at the end. We never quit. It was a lot of little things that built up to one big thing,” Richmond said.
Iris Ireland had 14 points and 14 rebounds for Hall-Dale. Wills added eight points, all in the fourth quarter, and Olivia Bourque grabbed 10 rebounds.
MADISON 39, HEBRON ACADEMY 16: Emily Edgerly scored 13 points to lead the 13th-seeded Bulldogs (6-13) to a Class C South preliminary-round win over No. 4 Hebron Academy (10-5), in Hebron.
BOYS’ BASKETBALL
MT. ARARAT 83, MORSE 43: Jared Balser scored 30 points to lead the eight-seeded Eagles (10-9) over the ninth-seeded Shipbuilders (4-15) in a Class A South prelim in Topsham.
Austin Damon added 11 points for Mt. Ararat, which pulled away with a 46-18 second-half advantage.
Gabe Aucoin scored 15 points for Morse.
Mt. Ararat advances to play top-seeded Greely (15-3) in the quarterfinals Friday at the Portland Expo.
ELLSWORTH 68, WINSLOW 43: Darby Barry scored 24 points and Austin Harris added 18 as the sixth-seeded Eagles (13-6) beat the No. 11 Black Raiders (9-10) in a Class B North prelim in Ellsworth.
Colby Pomeroy had 25 points for Winslow.
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