Greely High, the defending Class A girls’ basketball state champion, loves playing on the big stage. The Rangers made their first countable appearance of the season at the Portland Expo on Friday and put on a show, beating Brunswick 67-46 in a rematch of last season’s Class A South final.

The Rangers needed just 1:24 to take a double-digit lead and led 42-15 at the half, thanks to the brilliance of Anna DeWolfe, the outside shooting of Camille Clement and a defense that forced 16 turnovers.

DeWolfe finished with 25 points and Clement added 24 as the Rangers – playing without Brooke Obar, who suffered an ankle injury on practice Thursday – improved to 6-0 and extended their two-year winning streak to 20 games.

“We got off to an excellent start,” said Greely Coach Todd Flaherty. “We gave up a home game to get used to the atmosphere here and that was good for us.”

Clement set the tone with a 3-pointer nine seconds in. DeWolfe followed with two free throws and a fadeaway jumper to make it 7-0 with 7:02 to go in the first quarter, forcing Brunswick Coach Sam Farrell to call a timeout. It didn’t help.

Julia Martel’s 3-pointer just before the horn gave Greely a 19-5 advantage after one quarter.

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Five layups after steals extended the lead to 27 at halftime.

“I think we had it in the back of our minds to play for (Brooke),” said DeWolfe. “(Brunswick’s) a really good team and they always give us a good game. The way we started really set the tone early. Getting out and running, and feeding the ball and having a few different scorers was really important.”

The Dragons hit three 3-pointers in the third quarter, but Greely, thanks to a pair of 3s from Clement and another from Mollie Obar (nine points), still outscored them by six and took a 59-26 lead to the fourth quarter.

“I really like playing here on the big floor,” Clement said. “We have an advantage because we can run.”

Brunswick finished strong, outscoring the Rangers 20-8 in the fourth. Charlotte MacMillan led Brunswick (5-1) with 14 points and Alexis Guptill had 12.

“We haven’t had a lot of adversity over the past few years, except versus Greely it seems like, and you saw that early,” Farrell said. “We came out a little shell-shocked. (Greely) shot the lights out, especially early.

“The second half we were more physical and worked our inside-out game better, and picked up our energy. The goal is to play them again (in the tournament in February). There’s a ton to build on.”


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