Oxford Hills players celebrate during Wednesday's Class AA North semifinal against Bangor at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland. The Vikings will play advanced to their ninth straight regional final. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

PORTLAND — His team was down by five points at halftime and seven in the third quarter and was looking out of sorts and flustered.

Oxford Hills girls basketball coach Cim Colby wasn’t worried. Neither were his players.

“We came in (at halftime) and there was this real sense of calmness,” Colby said. “We knew we were doing everything they wanted us to do. We were playing their game. We talked about playing our game.”

The message was received. Ella Pelletier scored 24 points, and No. 1 Oxford Hills rallied in the second half to defeat No. 4 Bangor, 53-41, and reach its ninth straight Class AA North final. The Vikings (17-2) will play defending state champion Cheverus for the fourth consecutive year Saturday at 1 p.m. at Cross Insurance Arena.

“It’s just so amazing with the team we have right now,” Pelletier said. “The team dynamic is just through the roof right now.”

Key moments

• With 1:22 to go in the third quarter, Emma Cooper scored on a fast break to snap a 30-30 tie. Lydia Goyette knocked down a 3-pointer, and after Bangor’s Ayzlynn Gifford answered from distance, Pelletier made a 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 38-33 lead. The Vikings were in front the rest of the way.

How’d they do it?

• The Rams (13-7), who split with Oxford Hills during the regular season, had the Vikings rushing into mistakes in the first half and led from late in the first quarter until midway through the third. But Oxford Hills was more patient on offense in the second half, and after turning it over 11 times in the first half, the Vikings committed only four more turnovers.

“It wasn’t about we couldn’t break their press, it’s that we were so helter skelter, we weren’t even getting into a press break,” Colby said. “In the second half, I said ‘I don’t care what happens, you’re going to set up a press break.’ Once they were in familiar positions and familiar people had the ball, it became a little easier.”

• Lydia Goyette, a sophomore, delivered two big shots in the third quarter. The first was a 3-pointer that tied the game at 26, and the second was part of the Vikings’ flurry to end the quarter.

“I feel like it got everyone super hyped and super excited,” Goyette said. “I feel like when I get the 3 and it’s open, I just shoot it. I don’t (think about it).”

• Oxford Hills went 13 for 15 from the free-throw line, including 11 for 13 in the fourth quarter.

Stat leaders

• Bangor: Ayzlynn Gifford (19 points), Avery Clark (11 points), Dalaney Horr (seven points)

• Oxford Hills: Ella Pelletier (24 points, seven rebounds), Gabbie Tibbetts (nine points, eight rebounds), Lydia Goyette (eight points), Maddy Herrick (eight points)

They said it

• “(Assistant coach) Heath Poland takes her aside every day for eight minutes and does 100 shots on the shooting gun. We commit to it, no matter what. We’ve been telling her all year, in a playoff game, you’re going to hit a couple for us.” — Cim Colby, on Lydia Goyette

• “I think we got a little worn down, in terms of playing on that 94-foot court. … That’s how everything has been predicated for us, is playing full-court defense.” — Bangor coach Jay Kemble

• “All of us wanted to play Chev. … It’s just a good rematch, a little blood in the water out there, but it’ll be super fun.” — Ella Pelletier