AUGUSTA — There was some unspeakably ugly basketball going on, especially in the first half. But in the end, Hall-Dale won the same way it has won all season, with Taylor Massey, Carylanne Wolfington and a group of players who make the plays they need to.
Massey finished with 24 points, Wolfington added 11, and the top-ranked Bulldogs held No. 8 Georges Valley to nine points in the second half to take a 59-30 victory in a Western Class C girls’ basketball quarterfinal Tuesday night at the Augusta Civic Center.
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Hall-Dale (18-1) advances to play No. 5 Traip in the semifinals at 4 p.m. Thursday. Georges Valley finished at 11-9.
The action was much like a football game — a few seconds of action, then a whistle. There were five lane violations, lots of tie-ups and enough traveling calls to make an officials’ video covering all the different ways players can travel.
Georges Valley committed 41 turnovers. Hall-Dale turned the ball over 23 times, but only six of those were in the second half.
After the first quarter, Hall-Dale was a step above. The Bulldogs forced so many mistakes that they had considerable margin for error, and they went early and often to Massey inside, where she had a 3-inch height advantage over any Georges Valley player. Massey finished 11 of 21 from the field and had seven rebounds.
When Georges Valley was able to run its offense without turning the ball over, it was effective. Sophomore Kennadi Grover finished with 13 points for the Bucs.
LIVERMORE FALLS 45, DIRIGO 41: Megan Therrien sank four free throws in the closing seconds and the third-ranked Andies (16-3) survived a fourth-quarter comeback by the sixth-seeded Cougars (12-7), escaping with a win in a Western Class C girls’ quarterfinal at the Augusta Civic Center.
Livermore Falls led 35-24 with about six minutes remaining, but 3-pointers by Alyssa Wade and Paige Murphy and a pair of baskets by Hannah Knight enabled Dirigo to quickly cut into the deficit. The Cougars tied it at 41 on a basket by Kayla Gaudin with about 30 seconds remaining.
Therrien finished with 11 points and Annika Durrell had 10 for Livermore Falls. Knight paced Dirigo with 18 points.
WESTERN CLASS D GIRLS
GREENVILLE 43, SEACOAST CHRISTIAN 33: Melissa Gilbert scored 16 points and grabbed 17 rebounds, and third-ranked Greenville held on against sixth-ranked Seacoast Christian in a quarterfinal at the Augusta Civic Center.
Greenville (13-6), the defending regional champion, led throughout, but Seacoast (10-8) closed to within a point several times in the second half as Ruth Towne scored 14 of her 16 points. Towne’s basket with about three minutes remaining made it 32-31, but the Lakers made 7 of 8 free throws in the fourth quarter to close out the victory.
RICHMOND 53, HEBRON ACADEMY 38: Jamie Plummer scored 24 points as the top-ranked Bobcats (18-1) beat the No. 8 Lumberjacks (13-5).
Plummer’s offense helped offset a 22-point, 14-rebound performance by Hebron center Janelle Bradish. Hebron trailed just 38-36 early in the fourth quarter, but the Bobcats closed the game on a 15-2 run.
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