Some teams conclude the tournament every year feeling like they fell short of expectations or left a few business items unfinished.

In no way does that describe the experience of the St. Dom's girls.

Not supposed to make it here, surely not supposed to win two tournament games, the Saints couldn't complain one iota about their resounding 69-24 loss Thursday to top-seeded Madison.

Twelfth-seeded teams reach the semifinals about once per decade, if that. By knocking off No. 5 Hebron and No. 4 Hyde to get another 32 minutes in the civic center spotlight, the Saints overcame their past, performed admirably in the present and put down a foundation for the future.

"To get to the semis, that was beyond our goal," said St. Dom's coach Paul Rheaume. "We're really happy with the season. I and the other coaching staff are just happy that we could get the kids to play together and pick their game up."

Five seniors played their final game for the Saints: Catherine Joseph, Sara Theriault, Morgan Whitney, Jennifer Cullen and Ariane Bowie.

Joseph is the lone starter in the group. Freshman Allaina Murphy, sophomores Elise Applegate and Beth Pare and junior Kelsey Murphy will be back in 2008-09.

"I'm thrilled because we had the opportunity to get all the young kids in today in the fourth quarter so they could play on this floor. Let 'em learn what it's like," Rheaume said. "I got the seniors in together and was able to take them out one at a time so that they got their just due, then brought the young kids in so they could finish it out. The young kids I think now have that feeling of, 'Next year, let's get back there.' "

Police action ended what appeared to be a friendly exchange of cheers between the Madison and St. Dom's student cheering sections during an otherwise nondescript fourth quarter in a one-sided Western Class C girls' basketball semifinal Thursday afternoon.

The responsive chant began with the Madison faithful chirping, "This is practice!" and "Why so quiet?" The latter query finally lured an answer from St. Dom's, which employed a little reverse psychology with the time-honored, "Scooooooore-board."

St. Dom's trailed by 40 at the time. Madison's student body guffawed in appreciation.

After taking a few seconds to contemplate its reply, the Lewiston-Auburn parochial school gang went on a roll, beginning with the claim, "God still loves us." Madison's retort: "Not so much."

The Saints' sympathizers then took their shot at the opponent's geographical challenges by wondering aloud, "Where is Madison?," followed by the related boast, "We have cable." Madison fired back with the obvious, "We've got DSL" when an Augusta police officer apparently feared either a holy war or a dangerous discussion of home entertainment systems, and intervened.

His stern warning to both sides ended the chorus, and the final five minutes ticked away in you-could've-heard-a-pin-drop serenity.

Tournament officials held a moment of silence before Thursday night's Western Class C boys' semifinal session in memory of Gertrude Butler, who died in her Augusta hotel room overnight.

Butler was remembered as a "fixture at the press table," and rightfully so: She and husband Bob have been Heal Point and tournament statisticians for more than 50 years.

Their seats at the table were left vacant Thursday, with a bouquet of roses placed upon the placard bearing Mrs. Butler's name.