PORTLAND—It’s amazing what a little belief can do.

That and a fast start.

Monday afternoon at the Portland Exposition Building, the sixth-ranked Greely girls’ basketball team took the floor as a heavy underdog to third-seeded Gray-New Gloucester in a Class A South quarterfinal.

And for good reason.

Less than three weeks ago, the host Patriots crushed the Rangers by 42 points.

As a result, no one outside of Cumberland and North Yarmouth, and to be honest, not many within MSAD 51’s borders, gave Greely a chance.

But the Rangers believed and what resulted was the biggest upset of the girls’ tournament to date.

Senior Lauren Hester set the tone with a pair of early 3-pointers and by the end of one quarter, Greely held a 13-6 lead.

The Rangers then went ahead by as many as 14 points in the second period before the Patriots drew within nine, 28-19, at halftime.

With most on hand expecting a Gray-New Gloucester run in the third quarter, instead it was Greely surging, taking a 41-21 lead behind a late 3-pointer from junior Molly Partridge.

Down the stretch, the Patriots never got closer than 14 and the Rangers rolled to a surprisingly emphatic 52-31 victory.

Hester (15 points, 11 rebounds) and senior Asja Kelman (14 points, 11 rebounds) led the way as Greely improved to 9-10, ended Gray-New Gloucester’s season at 15-4 and in the process, advanced to the Class A South semifinals to take on reigning regional champion Brunswick (17-2) Wednesday at 1 p.m., at the Expo.

“This is sweet,” said Rangers coach Todd Flaherty. “I just told the girls we’ve won some big games here, but there’s not a better win than this one. We came out and played free and the ball went in. The girls really believed and I give them all the credit in the world.”

Surprise, surprise

Greely was 5-4 at the midway point following a four-game win streak, but the Rangers prevailed just three more times and wound up sixth in the region.

“We played a tough schedule,” said Flaherty. “We were 8-10 and I don’t know if anyone played a harder schedule. I knew we’d been tested.”

Gray-New Gloucester, which lost to Brunswick in last year’s regional final, lost only to Mt. Ararat, Brunswick and Fryeburg Academy, but won its other 15 contests to finish third in the region.

The Patriots took both regular season meetings, 53-43, Dec. 19 in Cumberland and 68-26 Jan. 30 at home.

Entering play Monday, the teams had split six prior playoff meetings, with the Patriots’ 39-25 victory in last year’s semifinals the most recent.

This time around, Greely came in playing carefree and it spelled not only a shocking upset, but a stunningly emphatic margin of victory.

The Rangers went on top to stay 92 seconds in when Hester banked home a 3.

Gray-New Gloucester got on the board with 6:11 left in the opening stanza, when junior Isabelle Morelli banked home a shot, but Hester countered with another 3.

“It felt really good to make those shots,” Hester said. “I’ve been practicing.”

“(Those shots were) so important,” Kelman said. “Lauren’s such a key member of our team. Not only does she rebound and box out and make shots, she’s always there for her teammates. I appreciate her for that.”

“Lauren got us going,” Flaherty added. “She got off to a great start and was huge.”

Senior Kylie Crocker then drove for a layup, senior Zada Smith added a free throw and with 3:18 remaining in the quarter, Kelman got a runner to drop and just like that, Greely was up, 11-2, forcing Patriots coach Mike Andreasen to call timeout.

“Greely’s kids are seasoned athletes,” said Andreasen, who coaches boys’ soccer at Greely. “They know how to win. They knew what they were doing. They were playing with house money. They felt the sting from last time.”

The timeout helped, as junior Laney Farrar drove and banked home a shot, then freshman Abbey Steele’s layup cut the deficit to five, but with 15 seconds remaining, Crocker inbounded the ball to Kelman, who made a layup for a 13-6 advantage.

Hester then began the second quarter the way she started the first, with a 3-ball.

After Patriots senior Alexandra Portas fed sophomore Ella Kenney for a layup off an inbounds set, Kelman got in on the long-range fun, with a 3-pointer. Partridge was next, as her 3 bounced it to make it 22-8 with 5:50 still to play in the first half.

After Morelli got a contested jumper to drop, Kelman picked up her second foul and Farrar followed with a 3 to cut the deficit to nine.

As they did all afternoon, the Rangers answered, as senior Zada Smith found senior Avery Butler for a layup, then Smith made a layup after a steal.

Farrar countered with a layup, but Smith converted one her own.

Late in the half, Morelli made a layup, then sank two free throws and it appeared Gray-New Gloucester had a little momentum at the break, even though it was down, 28-19.

Hester paced Greely’s first half effort with nine points, while Kelman had seven points and six rebounds.

The Rangers then essentially put it away in the third quarter.

Nineteen seconds into the third quarter, Smith scored on a runner to restore the Rangers’ double digit advantage.

After Crocker got a runner to roll in, Smith was whistled for her third foul, then Farrar set up Morelli for a layup.

That basket proved to be the Patriots’ only points of the quarter, however, and Greely closed on a 9-0 run.

First Smith found Hester open behind the pressure defense and Hester made the layup. Kelman then got free for a layup, from Crocker, sophomore Kelsey Crocker scored on a putback and Partridge rained down a 3-pointer to make it 41-21 heading to the final stanza.

“We knew (the Patriots would) come out even harder than they started, so we wanted to match their energy,” Kelman said.

The Rangers were never seriously threatened in the fourth quarter.

After Portas opened the fourth period with a 3-pointer, ending a 5 minute, 34 second drought, Kenney scored on a runner and Steele added a free throw, but that’s as good as it would get for Gray-New Gloucester.

With 6:45 to play, Kylie Crocker fed Hester for a layup, then Hester made a breakaway layup 18 seconds later.

Kelman added a free throw before freshman Emma Hamilton drove for a layup for the Patriots, but Kylie Crocker found Kelman for a layup twice and Kelman fed Partridge for a layup and Greely’s final points.

Freshman Ivy Ouellette made a layup for Gray-New Gloucester as time wound down, but it was far too little, too late, and the Rangers ran out the clock and celebrated their seismic 52-31 victory.

“I’m so happy for all us,” said Hester. “We believed in ourselves. We wanted it so badly. We got ourselves hyped up before the game. I trusted my teammates. We knew we could beat Gray because we wanted it and here we are. Our defense was great. I’m so proud. Practice is different from a game, but the fact we were able to translate it to the court, locked down and played help-side defense, we did what we wanted to do.”

“We never give up,” said Kelman. “We’ve been the underdogs before. We were underdogs my sophomore year and we got all the way to states. We work together and it’s tough to beat a team three times and we knew that. We had to stay grounded and positive and stay together. As a senior, these are my last moments with my team. We’re like a family and this lifts us up so much. Even if we lost, we wanted to go out with a bang. It’s a really special feeling. It’s such a great experience.”

“It feels good to win a game like this,” Flaherty added. “We don’t want to disappear. I’m really happy for the girls. They’ve worked hard all year and deserve this. We got 3s early and rebounded well all game long. That pressure bothered us a little bit. It’s been an Achilles’ heel for us, but we made them pay a little bit.”

Greely was paced by Hester (15 points, 11 rebounds) and Kelman (14 points, 11 rebounds). Kelman, who isn’t 100 percent physically, also had two assists and two steals and as she always does, inspired her teammates with her energy and effort.

“It’s playoffs and you can’t let anything go,” said Kelman. “No matter how much pain you’re in, you have to dig deep.”

“Asja’s banged up, but she brought it today,” said Flaherty.

Partridge added eight points, six rebounds and two steals, Smith had seven points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals, Kylie Crocker contributed four points and a game-high nine assists, and Butler and Kelsey Crocker both tallied two points.

The Rangers had a 43-42 edge on the glass, made just 2-of-10 free throws and turned the ball over 21 times, but wouldn’t be denied.

Sudden end

Gray-New Gloucester got a team-high 10 points from Morelll, who also had four rebounds and two steals. Farrar had seven points, Kenney added four, Portas (three rebounds, three steals) and Steele each had three and Hamilton and Ouellette had two apiece.

The Patriots turned the ball over 15 times, made just 3-of-8 free throws and never got in their groove.

“We were consistent, we played the same the whole game,” said Andreasen. “You have to bring your ‘A’ game and we didn’t. It’s hard to beat a team three times. We couldn’t find the basket. When we got something easy, it wasn’t easy. We thought we were OK at halftime down nine, but the big court hurt us. They broke the press. Every time there was a 50-50 ball, they were on it. They were a split second quicker. They were hungry and aggressive. They played desperate and when you do that, good things happen. I don’t think we were overconfident. We focused on this game. We just didn’t play well, but the kids gave everything they had. The ball didn’t fall and Greely was better today.

“Three years in a row, we went to the playoffs with a good record, but our final game hasn’t been nip-and-tuck at the buzzer. I worry that something gets in our heads on the big stage. Some teams handle it better than others and we didn’t handle it well tonight.”

Dragons lair

Greely lost its regular season meeting at Brunswick, 59-36, Jan. 23.

The Rangers have won three of four prior playoff meetings, dating to 2017, including a 38-35 upset win in the 2022 Class A South Final.

Greely hopes history repeats Wednesday, but the Dragons will be tough to dethrone.

“I’m so excited to come back here (Wednesday),” Hester said. “We have to keep on putting in the work. We have nothing to lose.”

“We’ll always fight hard,” said Kelman. “We wear our jersey with pride. We have to watch (Brunswick’s) post players and sink outside shots. We just have to play our game.”

“We know Brunswick,” Flaherty added. “They’re big and they’re good. We’re already ahead of where most people thought we’d be, so we’re happy about that. We’ll give it a good game Wednesday.”

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. For game updates and links to game stories, follow him on Threads: @foresports2023

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