AUGUSTA – For much of the second quarter Saturday, the North Yarmouth Academy girls’ basketball team scratched it way back from a double-digit deficit.

When the Panthers closed to within two points, Waynflete seized back the momentum in the final two minutes of the half.

Thanks to six straight baskets by Khalilah Ummah, the Flyers had an eight-point lead at the half and never looked back in a 52-36 Western D quarterfinal win.

“We were turning the ball over,” said Waynflete coach Jan Veinot. “We gave them the ball three times in a row. I called a time out and said ‘Guys, we’ve got to take care of the ball.'”

Waynflete then managed to set up its halfcourt game and fed the ball inside to Ummah, who finished on three straight trips. Ummah had eight of her 19 points in that second quarter.

“She’s really sick,” said Veinot. “She has the flu. “I promised her if she could hold on for a few more minutes she’d could sleep for three days.”

Noelle Surette led No. 2 Waynflete (16-1) with 22 points. No. 7 NYA (12-8) got 13 points from Bobbie Dennison.

Surette had helped spark the Flyers to a 15-2 lead with 11 points in the opening quarter. The Panthers rallied in the second with six straight points and were trailing 17-15 when Erin Lachance hit a 3-pointer with 3:16 left.

After Ummah’s 6-0 spurt to end the half, Waynflete broke the game open in the third.

NYA was within five points twice, but each time the Flyers pumped up the lead before a 10-3 run in the fourth opened things up for good.

“I told them at halftime that the first three minutes of the second half would determine the game,” said Veinot. “They knew we had to come out and show that we had the lead and intended to keep it.”