The Biddeford Tigers earned the No. 3 seed in the Western Maine Class A girls basketball tournament by wrecking defensive havoc on opposing teams with their full-court pressure and suffocating matchup zone.

They also lost to No. 2 Scarborough twice during the regular season when employing those tactics, so they knew they had to change things up to have a shot at the upset.

Come playoff time, Biddeford scrapped its bread and butter for something untested, but also unexpected.

It worked, as the Tigers were able to slow down the Red Storm’s transition game, limit Scarborough’s opportunities inside, and keep points to a minimum, pulling out a 32-29 victory in Friday night’s semifinal game at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland.

Scarborough wrapped up one of the best seasons in the program’s history at 17-3. The 29 points was Scarborough’s lowest scoring output of the year. The Storm beat the Tigers 65-56 and 64-54 during the regular season. Biddeford went on to fall to undefeated and top-ranked Deering, 56-33, in Saturday’s final.

“First time all year we did not press, first time all year we did not play our matchup zone,” said Biddeford coach Ron Cote. “We took a chance. We put in a whole new game plan for this team, for this game. We wanted to sandwich their big people inside with the 1-3-1 zone. They beat us twice during the year. We felt that we had to get rid of our press because they fast break well and they beat us on easy baskets the last two games we played. We wanted to eliminate that part of the game and play them in a half-court game to see if they could out-execute us.”

Scarborough coach Jim Seavey said the Tigers were successful in slowing his team down.

“Credit to Biddeford,” Seavey said. “They made everything very tough for us. I anticipated them not even wanting to get in a track meet with us after what happened the first two regular-season games. If you were to tell me we’d hold them to 32 points, I’d have told you we’d win by 20, but that didn’t happen tonight because they took away transition and they made it very difficult for Christy (Manning) and Abbey (Pelletier) to establish themselves in the low post.”

The Storm trailed by eight points early in the fourth quarter after Biddeford’s Lauren Rousseau made two 3-pointers – one in the closing seconds of the third quarter, then another a minute into the fourth, making it 29-21. But Scarborough kept the Tigers off the board for nearly four minutes and chipped away. Heather Carrier’s 3 from the top of the key with 4:10 to go cut the Red Storm deficit to four, then Reegan Brackett’s jumper made it 29-27 with 3:25 left.

“I knew Scarborough wouldn’t fold their tents and give up,” Cote said. “They got a couple key baskets and were right back in it. They cut it to two. We missed some key foul shots, which gets you scared.”

Rousseau made one free throw to make it 30-27. Jenn Colpitts rimmed out a 3 from the right corner and Biddeford got the rebound and went into its four-corner delay offense. With 1:51 left, Scarborough fouled and Tracy Gouin missed the front end of a 1-and-1.

Brackett (eight points) followed up Sarah Moody’s misfire on a 3 attempt with a runner off the glass to make it 30-29 with 1:28 to go. Biddeford stalled and the Storm fouled with 32.4 seconds left. Aimee Mortensen made both shots of a 1-and-1 for what ended up being the game’s final points.

Brackett had a chance for the tie, but her off-balance 3 bounced off the rim as time expired.

The teams battled to a 10-10 first quarter tie. Rousseau, who finished with a game-high 16 points, including three 3s, scored eight in the opening quarter. Manning had six of her team-high 10 in the first for the Storm.

After a defensive struggle in the second quarter, Scarborough took a 16-15 lead into halftime. Neither team led by more than two in the third until Rousseau’s 3 at the end.

Rousseau said the Tigers bought into the change in plan, installing the 1-3-1 the week before in practice.

“They’d beaten us the past two games by fast breaking,” Rousseau said. “We knew we weren’t going to press, so we practiced our 1-3-1. We were ready for it. I thought we played it well.

“Brackett’s a really good point guard. She pushes the ball up well. We knew if we dropped back right away, she wouldn’t be able to get her passes up quickly. I don’t think they got one fast break on us.”

Seavey said it was an off night for his team. The Storm made only 7 of 14 free throws – 50 percent – below the team average of 67 percent. Usually strong from the perimeter, Scarborough made only two 3s, which allowed Biddeford to focus on stopping Manning and Pelletier, Scarborough’s two 5’10” post players.

“It’s a great bunch of kids and they gave it their all. We just picked a bad night to have an off night,” Seavey said. “There were a lot of firsts. That’s the first time Scarborough girls basketball has ever played in this building. I’ve got to believe 17 wins ranks right up there, if it’s not the highest win total in Scarborough girls basketball history.”

Scarborough is becoming a power in the West.

“If you would have told me back in the beginning of November that we were going to finish 17-3 this year and lose in the semifinals at the Civic Center, I would have said I’ll take that,” Seavey said. “That’s a huge hurdle. We won 13 games last year and lost in the quarterfinals at the Expo. This year, we won 16 regular-season games, won a game at the Expo and got into the big building, the big house. The kids have a lot to be proud of.”

The Storm has only three seniors on the roster: Bracket, Pelletier and Chelsea Kothman, so the team should be a top contender next season. The seniors will be missed, however.

“The seniors are the backbone,” Seavey said. “Reegan Brackett is the heart and soul of the team. Abbey Pelletier, we missed her for 10 games (with an illness), and she came back like she didn’t miss a heartbeat. She came back and gave us a spark down the stretch. Chelsea Kothman didn’t see the floor a lot, but she is the epitome of a teammate. She is, by far, one of the best teammates I have ever coached in 16 years of coaching varsity girls basketball. They mean a lot. You can never replace your seniors.”

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