When Freeport High girls’ basketball coach Seth Farrington saw his team’s Class B South quarterfinal matchup, he knew it wasn’t going to be easy.
The top-seeded Falcons were going to face a familiar opponent in No. 8 Cape Elizabeth, a Western Maine Conference rival.
The Falcons defeated the Capers, 37-32, and it wasn’t easy at all.
“They’ve seen us,” said Farrington. “The athletes they have, the players they have, are equivalent to ours. And also, I think the schedule they played all year gets them ready for these games.”
The strength of the WMC regular-season schedule has been a big topic at the Class B South tournament at the Portland Expo the last two days. In boys’ play Friday night, the WMC went 3-1 against out-of-conference competition, with only No. 8 Freeport losing a nail-biter against No. 1 Maranacook.
Saturday, the WMC won both girls’ matchups with out-of-conference teams: No. 3 Wells rolling past No. 6 Lisbon 52-26, and No. 5 Yarmouth defeating No. 4 Mountain Valley, 52-23.
“Iron sharpens iron,” Wells Coach Don Abbott said of the WMC schedule.
But there was another factor Saturday: big-time players making big-time plays.
In Freeport’s win, top scorers Caroline Smith and Rachel Wall combined for all eight Falcons points in the fourth quarter. Smith finished with 10 points, tied for team-high with Mason Baker-Schlendering, while Wall scored seven.
“Two very good players, and our plan was to try to stop them and Mason,” said Cape Elizabeth Coach Christine Casterella. “And I think on the whole, the girls did a great job.”
But when it counted, Wall and Smith stepped up. Twice in the fourth quarter, Smith scored on short jumpers to maintain a seven-point lead for Freeport.
An inside basket by Wall with 3:13 left made it 35-26. Then, after Cape Elizabeth cut the margin to 35-30, Smith passed to Wall for a basket that sealed it with 35 seconds left.
“They came up when we needed them, but we got contributions for others,” said Farrington. “To advance, you need more than one or two players, all five of us playing well.”
In Wells’ win, the Ramsdell sisters, senior Franny and sophomore Grace, once again led the way. Franny Ramsdell had 24 points, including 10 in a row in the first quarter when the Warriors rebounded from a 6-0 deficit. Grace Ramsdell had 11.
“(It helps when) you have a couple of kids like that who you can go to when you need a basket, and then surround them with some kids who are really good athletes who know and understand what their roles are, and all have bought into helping us win games,” said Abbott. “They just want to win.”
In Yarmouth’s win, the Clippers trailed 7-2 early, then roared back behind Margaret McNeil and Katelyn D’Appolonia. D’Appolonia finished with 12 points and McNeil 10 as the Clippers had a very balanced attack.
“Those are the two that can really carry you if they get on a roll,” said Yarmouth Coach Dave Cousins. “McNeil can shoot it from anywhere, and D’Appolonia can get to the rim and she can shoot a little bit.”
The two combined on a dazzling play late in the first quarter that got Yarmouth rolling. McNeil grabbed a defensive rebound, turned and threw a long football-like pass to D’Appolonia, racing down the left. She pulled it in and completed a three-point play for a 14-10 lead.
This was Yarmouth’s first quarterfinal win in 15 years. “It’s huge and really exciting to be part of it,” said McNeil. “We’ve never seen a team do this, even when we were young. Now the younger kids see that Yarmouth can do it.”
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