AUGUSTA

On Friday in the Western Maine Class D semifinals at the Augusta Civic Center, the Rangeley girls basketball team faced its first adversity of the season.

Trailing sixth-seeded Searsport by seven at the half, the Lakers bounced back for a 39-35 win. A couple hours later, No. 4 Richmond punched its ticket to Saturday’s Western D Regional final with a 35-28 win over ninth-seeded Vinalhaven.

The Bobcats hoped the Lakers, who had defeated Richmond twice during the East-West Conference season, 46-26 and 51-34, might have another bad game in them.

But, the Rangeley combination of 6-footers Blayke Morin and Taylor Esty proved too much for Richmond to withstand, with the Bobcats falling, 39-22. The Lakers, 20-0, will face fourtime defending Class D champion Washburn (21-0) this upcoming Saturday at the Cross Center in Bangor, while the Bobcats ended a glorious postseason run with a 14-7 mark.

“We accomplished a lot this year,” said Richmond first-year coach Mike Ladner. “A new coach, a new system and we are young. They realize that everyone comes back next year, and we plan on being back here next year. We were supposed to be rebuilding, but once we made the tournament, I thought it was a free ride.”

For Rangeley, this is the first Regional title since 2004. Morin said both teams improved this year.

“We saw them first game and toward the end of the season and they improved, plus we improved too,” said Morin, who had 11 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals. “They accomplished a lot to get here, and

The first half featured little in the way of offense, with the Lakers carrying a football-like score of 14-7 into the intermission.

Rangeley changed things up in the third, passing over the top of the Richmond defense. Esty had nine points, Morin five, as the Lakers stretched out to a 29- 15 lead heading to the final frame.

“We struggled to shoot with confidence,” said Ladner. “What I noticed that they did, is they went to a high-low and when one would get the ball, they would lob it over us to the other. You can’t coach height.”

“I didn’t know what the score was at halftime, but we knew that our defense was playing really good and we had to put it inside after spreading it out,” said Morin. “That last couple seconds of the third quarter, I was at the foul line and saw Taylor cutting. She made the catch and put it in, which was great. The ‘twin-tower’ chemistry that we have, we are happy that it clicked.”

“We went into the locker room and told ourselves that we can’t get down, and just need to keep on fighting,” said Richmond sophomore guard Meranda Martin. “We tried switching back to man and to our zone, but they just got a little bit ahead of us. We pushed through and never gave up. We gave our hardest. I am proud of this team.”

Richmond climbed back to within 12 points on a Kelsea Anair bucket to open the fourth, but Natasha Haley scored on a nice pass from Morin, and Seve Deery-DeRaps hit Rangeley’s only 3- pointer of the game on the Lakers’ next trip down the court for a 34-17 lead.

Bobcat freshman Sydney Tilton and Anair both picked up nine points in the loss, while Esty paced Rangeley with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

“They are always tough, but what can you do?” said Tilton. “It is a big achievement for us to get here. Rangeley, it was their time. We did great and worked hard as a team.”

Richmond was 9-of-37 from the floor (24 percent) and 3-of-4 at the free-throw line, while Rangeley shot 33 percent (13-of-38) from the field and made 12-of-19 at the foul line.

Richmond-Vinalhaven

On Friday against the ninth-seeded Vinalhaven Vikings, Tilton had a doubledouble with 11 points and 14 boards, while Martin was all over the court, picking up eight points, eight steals and seven rebounds in Richmond’s 35-28 win.

The Bobcats led 9-5. 20-14 and 28-19 at the quarter breaks as Vinalhaven (10-11) struggled to score consistently.

Tilton popped for six firsthalf points, and combined with Emily Douin in defending Vinalhaven’s Gilleyanne Davis- Oakes, who had 25 points in the Vikings’ 45-43 semifinal upset of top-seeded Pine Tree Academy on Tuesday. Davis-Oakes had nine points, five rebounds and four steals, but was unable to duplicate her 15-point fourth-quarter performance against the Breakers.

In the fourth quarter, a short jumper by Deja Doughty (six points) drew Vinalhaven to 32-28 with 1:19 remaining in regulation, but Anair, who fought foul trouble throughout, took a pass from Martin and scored for a 34-28 lead, and Martin made 1-of-2 at the line to close out the win.

No. 2 Rangeley 39,
No. 4 Richmond 22

Western D Regional Final
Saturday, at the
Augusta Civic Center
Richmond—34 8 7—22
Rangeley — 8 6 15 10 — 39
Richmond — Sydney Tilton 3-3-9,
Cassidy Harriman 0-0-0, Kelsea Anair
4-0-9, Meranda Martin 1-0-2,
Autumn Acord 0-0-0, Kalah Patterson
1-0-2, Emily Douin 0-0-0, Jenn
Snedeker 0-0-0, Jade Gammon 0-0-
0, Tala Abu Hayyaneh 0-0-0. Totals —
9-3-22.
Rangeley — Blayke Morin 5-1-11,
Taylor Esty 5-5-15, Natasha Haley 2-
0-4, Maddison Egan 0-2-2, Seve
Deery-DeRaps 1-4-7, Sydney Royce
0-0-0, Michaela Shorey 0-0-0, Valerie
Roy-Lessard 0-0-0, Celia Philbrick 0-
0-0, Patricia Lessard 0-0-0, Elise
McKendry 0-0-0. Totals — 13-12-39.
3-point field goals — (Rich) Anair;
(Range) Deery-DeRaps.
Records — Rangeley 20-0, Richmond 14-7
Notes — Rangeley faces four-time
Class D champ Washburn (21-0) on
Saturday in the State Class D Championship at the Cross Center in Bangor at 1:05 p.m. Richmond’s season
is completed.

No. 4 Richmond 35,
No. 9 Vinalhaven 28

Western D Semifinal
Friday, at the Augusta Civic Center
Vinalhaven—5 959—28
Richmond— 91187—35
Vinalhaven — Skyler Sanborn 0-0-0,
Gilleyanne Davis-Oakes 3-3-9, Paige
Dennison 1-2-4, Ashley Davis-Oakes
2-0-4, Taylor Littlefield 1-2-5, Deja
Doughty 3-0-6, Andrea Shane 0-0-0.
Totals — 10-7-28.
Richmond — Sydney Tilton 4-3-11,
Cassidy Harriman 0-3-3, Kelsea Anair
2-2-6, Meranda Martin 3-2-8,
Autumn Acord 1-0-2, Kalah Patterson
1-0-3, Jade Gammon 0-0-0, Emily
Douin 1-0-2. Totals — 12-10-35.
3-point field goals — (V) Littlefield;
(R) Patterson.
Record — Vinalhaven finishes 10-11.

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