GRAY – A scoreless second quarter might be the undoing for most teams, but such a drought was just an inconvenience Wednesday for the Greely girls’ basketball team.

Jim Seavey’s Rangers were stuck on 13 points for 8:36, but thanks to a strong defensive effort, Greely still held the lead for much of that time. The Rangers then regrouped and broke it open in the second half, beating Gray-New Gloucester 38-28.

“Defensively, we’re playing very well right now,” said Seavey. “That’s two games in a row where we executed our defensive game plan to a tee.”

The win secures the No. 1 seed in Western Maine Class B for the second straight year and gives Greely two straight wins over the Patriots in the regular season.

“Who would have thunk it, graduating six kids off last year’s team,” said Seavey, whose club beat G-NG in the regional final last year before losing in the state final.

Greely doesn’t have many experienced players back, but Abby Marstaller is one of them. Her play inside in the second half helped the Rangers extend their lead with a strong third quarter. She led all scorers with nine points. Amanda Gray added eight for Greely and Steph Ginn chipped in seven.

“We made a couple of adjustments at halftime,” said Seavey. “We came out in the third quarter and went on an 11-2 run. I thought that made a big difference. We went to the high-low game. We put the ball inside. They had no answer for it.”

While an 0-for-10 second quarter was Greely’s stumbling block, the third quarter was the undoing for the Patriots. G-NG shot just 1-for-7 and couldn’t shut down Greely’s post game. After taking a 14-13 lead at the half, G-NG struggled to produce points.

“We missed nine fouls shots in a row,” said G-NG coach Ken Butler. “We really didn’t control the ball like we should. The second half they came out and played better, and we didn’t play better.”

Josalee Danieli and Katie Skilling each had eight points for the Patriots.

After a Marstaller jumper put Greely ahead to start the third quarter, Dawn Ross put G-NG in the lead for the final time. Gray scored in the post and a Renee Jordan rebound made it 19-16. Then a lob to Marstaller in the paint led to a three-point play. Another lob to Gray had the lead up to 24-16 by quarter’s end.

The Patriots went more than seven minutes without a point but still managed to close to within 26-22 with 6:13 left. A pair of Skilling baskets and a Leanne Waterman hoop from a Danieli pass got the Patriots close. Marstaller, however, scored back-to-back hoops inside and Brigitte Demers hit two free throws to build the lead back up for good.

“It really comes down to they’re No. 1 and we’re No. 2 and we move on from here,” said Butler.