PORTLAND — Ashley Storey scored 14 points and her sister, Jaclyn Storey, added 10 points and five blocks as No. 5 Greely used its height advantage to streak past No. 4 Leavitt 42-27 in a Western Class B quarterfinal Tuesday night at the Portland Expo.
Greely (14-5) plays Lake Region (17-2) in a 4:30 p.m. semifinal Thursday at the Cumberland County Civic Center.
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The Rangers did a good job containing Leavitt standout Kristen Anderson. Greely had two players — mainly Haley Felkel and Margaret Hatch — guarding her on the perimeter.
Anderson, battling a tender left ankle, wasn’t a factor.
“We wanted to deny Anderson, double Anderson and jam Anderson,” said Greely Coach Joel Rogers. “We made her work. To hold Leavitt to 27 points is unbelievable.”
The Storeys worked some nice give- and-go’s in the lane. With their height — 6-foot-2 and 5-10 — they simply threw over the top of the Hornets’ defense.
Anderson scored her team’s first five points. After her 3-pointer pulled Leavitt within 8-5, the Rangers went on a 13-2 run overlapping the first and second quarters.
Ashley Storey had four points in the run, and Jaclyn had three points.
Jaclyn Storey helped set the game’s tone with a block of Jenna Cote’s layup at the 3:12 mark of the opening quarter.
Leavitt (13-6) scored the last five points of the half to trail by 11.
“We came out strong in the first quarter,” said Ashley Storey.
“We knew we had to shut down Anderson, who can really shoot the 3. We had a team game. We made the extra pass, which enabled us to get some open shots.”
As for the two sisters combining on several baskets, Ashley Storey said: “We work on that in practice. I’m used to seeing Ashley open inside.”
An 8-0 run by the Rangers early in the third quarter put the game away.
“It was a tough matchup for us,” said Leavitt Coach Tammy Anderson, Kristen’s mother. “They could throw over our defense. “
Anderson stretched ligaments in her left ankle during a game midway through the season, then sprained it in the third-to-last game before the tournament.
“There was swelling across the whole foot with the ligament damage,” said Tammy Anderson. “The ankle sprain was a normal sprain. She hasn’t played a whole game since the very beginning of February.
“We taped it up and put a brace on it. She was going to play no matter what. She would have played in a wheelchair if she had to.”
Anderson didn’t appear noticeably hampered.
“She did OK,” said her mother. “She kept her cool.”
Anderson finished with 15 points but hit only three 3-pointers, well below her average when healthy.
Rogers called it his team’s best defensive game since a victory against Lake Region early in the season.
Greely survived a two-point victory against No. 12 Falmouth in a preliminary-round game to reach the quarterfinals.
The day before the prelim, Greely scrimmaged Deering.
“Some people questioned having a scrimmage the day before a tournament game, but it really helped us,” Rogers said.
Staff Writer Tom Chard can be contacted at 791-6419 or at:
tchard@pressherald.com
Twitter: TomChardPPH
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