York High will face a very familiar foe in the Western Class B girls' basketball semifinals Thursday.
The second-seeded Wildcats will take on No. 3 Greely, a team York has eliminated from the tournament each of the last three years.

The teams split regular-season games this year, the Rangers winning 43-41 at Cumberland on Dec. 13 and the Wildcats winning at York 40-30 Jan. 20.

"A good match for us,'' said York Coach Rick Clark. "We have big people, they have big people. Our guards are good, their guards are good. It should be a great game.

"We made some adjustments the second time we played them and I'm sure we'll make more adjustments for this one. We know what we have to do,'' said York junior Emily Campbell. "We need to go out and play our game.''

Clark, incidentally, gave his captains much praise following the game, saying their halftime talk to the rest of the team inspired the Wildcats to rally from a five-point deficit and beat Gray-New Gloucester.
When told of Clark's comments, senior guard Andrea Mountford said, "Do you have that on tape?''

THE LAKE REGION-LEAVITT semifinal should also be a great one. The Lakers are ranked first; the Hornets are the defending state champs.

Both teams play at a high-intensity pace, which should make for a wild game.

"They play very aggressive and up-tempo and a lot of their offense is created off turnovers,'' said Lake Region Coach Paul True. "So the key for us is going to be taking care of the basketball.''

True could have been speaking for the Hornets as well. Lake Region's offense is also manufactured off its defense.

As True said after beating Yarmouth in the quarterfinals, "I think all year long (the press) just wears on you. It comes and goes in spurts and sometimes we're going to give up some easy baskets. But you hope in the long run the turnovers outweigh the easy baskets.''

About this Blog

VarsityMaine The Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram put a priority on high school sports coverage, and this blog is a place for all our reporters to put news and notes from around the state.

From football to field hockey, from cross country to volleyball, our goal is to keep you informed of the happenings in all high school sports.

Click below for sport-specific posts.

Baseball

Boys' basketball

Girls' basketball

Cheerleading

Cross Country

Field Hockey

Football

Golf

Boys' Hockey

Girls' Hockey

Lacrosse

Skiing

Soccer

Softball

Swimming

Tennis

Track

Indoor Track

Volleyball

About the Author

Maine High School Sports Bloggers

Paul Betit is an Augusta native and graduate of the University of Maine. He has covered Maine high school sports for more than 30 years and is entering his seventh season as a beat writer covering the Portland Pirates. In his spare time, Betit writes mystery-suspense novels. Occasionally, he tries to sink his second career hole-in-one.

Glenn Jordan came to Maine in 1994 to cover the nascent Portland Sea Dogs. After eight baseball seasons and three children – the last two within 18 minutes of each other – he became a part-time writer. Among the sports he covers are now are tennis, skiing, swimming and running. He has a degree in philosophy from Dartmouth, a decent forehand and a penchant for checkers.

Mike Lowe is a Massachusetts native who feels he's lived long enough in Maine (since 1982) to have roots here. He graduated from Boston University and has worked in New Hampshire and Maine, covering everything from the Little League World Series to the Summer Olympics. When he has free time – Ha! – he likes to read, collect comic books and watch the grass grow from his hammock.

Previous entries