Big second half sends Rangeley past Vinalhaven in quarterfinals
AUGUSTA – Each and every one of them already knew, but a lengthy halftime speech told the Rangeley girls’ basketball team what it needed to hear.
“I gave them a little talking to,” said Rangeley coach Heidi Deery. “We came out a little tight, but we took care of business in the second half.
The top-ranked Lakers (18-0) didn’t return to the court Tuesday until two minutes remained in the intermission, but they didn’t need any warmup. The fire was lit.
The Lakers responded with a dominant second half that delivered a 72-52 Western Class D quarterfinal win over Vinalhaven.
“It was a pretty long lecture, but I’m glad we had it,” said Rangeley guard Sarah Schrader, whose team earned a semifinal rematch Thursday with Valley. “We were just fired up. We were slapping hands and talking on defense. It was everything that we wanted to do from the beginning of the game.”
Schrader led the Lakers with a career-high 30 points. Krysteen Romero added 20 points and 10 rebounds. Rosie LaPointe added nine points and five steals.
“She took over the game,” Deery said of her junior point guard. “She’s that kind of player. Defensively, she can destroy someone, and she can convert it on the other end.”
Vinalhaven stuck with Rangeley for much of the first half. Breanna Osgood led the No. 9 Vikings (11-7) with 20 points.
Vinalhaven had given Rangeley its closest battle of the season – losing by seven – and were within 33-27 at the half.
“They did the things they needed to do to be successful,” said Deery, whose club built a 29-0 lead in last year’s quarterfinal with the Vikes. “We didn’t dominate the pace of the game in that first 16 minutes, and if we don’t do that we can let a team like Vinalhaven control the temp and we did.”
That changed in the second half. After the halftime speech, the Lakers picked up the intensity in the second half, starting with a 10-2 run.
“It was almost emotional at halftime,” said Schrader. “We all knew that we weren’t playing our game, and we had to just pick it up 100 percent. We all capitalized on what we had to do individually in our own jobs. We came out there and got fired up. We knew we were going home with a win.”
Vinalhaven got a jumper from Osgood, but otherwise were stymied early as Rangeley forced some turnovers. Rangeley hit six of its first seven shots and were off and running.
Romero scored in the post and Schrader followed up on a steal. After Osgood’s basket, Romero scored on a turn-around shot. Schrader then slashed her way to the basket twice for a 43-29 lead. After a Kim Smith basket for the Vikings, Justine Frost-Kolva drained a 3-pointer to increase Rangeley’s advantage to 46-31. Vinalhaven got within 11 late in the quarter but couldn’t get closer.
“We pride ourselves on good team defense,” said Deery. “I don’t think we were playing good team defense in the first half. We had good individual efforts but it wasn’t good team defense. When we don’t play good team defense, our offense suffers because we get a lot of our offense off our defense.”
kmills@sunjournal.com
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