AUGUSTA – How do you adjust to the loud, wide-open atmosphere at the Augusta Civic Center when you’ve never played a game there before?

Eat judiciously. Take a walk and get an idea of the lay of the land.

Or, if all else fails to help you unwind, take over a section of the bleachers and sing karaoke to the oldies.

That was the approach employed by the Jay High School girls, only one of whom, senior tri-captain Heather Johnson, was on the team the last time the Tigers made the quarterfinals in 2001.

With more than an hour between the afternoon and evening sessions each day, the tournament veterans who staff the clock and scoring table typically pop in a CD of tunes from a bygone era for broadcast over the public address system.

Jimmy Buffett and Lee Greenwood have been staples throughout the week. Tuesday evening, older rock ‘n’ roll classics were the theme that had several Tigers hopping and bopping in the stands.

It was a good indicator of what lay ahead in the first game of the night session, when Jay toppled Telstar 65-54 in a battle of relative tournament neophytes.

“I think both teams were nervous, but it seemed like we were looser than they were,” Jay coach Chris Bessey said. “If you watched the pre-game (shootaround), Telstar looked pretty serious. We were smiling a little bit more.”

Telstar’s preliminary round win over Livermore Falls was the Rebels’ first playoff victory ever. This was the first winning season in the history of the program.

Eight of the 12 players on both Jay and Telstar’s rosters are freshmen or sophomores.

Down, but not out

Two players in Tuesday’s Western Class C girls’ quarterfinals suffered scary-looking injuries but returned to their respective games.

Georges Valley guard Kim Watts went down 20 seconds into the Buccaneers’ contest after a hard collision with Kelly Finneran of Traip. Watts, who was called for a foul on the play, took a knee to the lower abdomen and sat out until the fourth quarter.

She returned to a standing ovation, then nailed a 3-pointer and a free throw in the waning moments of a 62-42 loss.

The Telstar-Jay game was delayed for five minutes while trainers attended to the Rebels’ Krystle Gould, who clutched her knee and was in obvious pain.

Gould’s injury came at the end of an 11-0 Telstar run. While her return seemed questionable, Gould reappeared and scored six points in the fourth period.

She later walked off the floor under her own power but was seen receiving additional medical attention after the game.

Streaking in vogue

Dirigo won its 32nd consecutive game at the civic center Tuesday night, waltzing past Wiscasset in the last of four Western C girls’ quarterfinal games.

The Cougars are 204-10 under head coach Gavin Kane in his 10-year tenure.

Next up to defend a phenomenal winning streak are the Valley boys, who put their string of six straight Class D titles and 22 consecutive Augusta triumphs on the line against North Yarmouth Academy in a regional semifinal at 10 a.m. today.

Valley rallied from an 18-point deficit in the fourth quarter to win on NYA’s home court in the teams’ last meeting Jan. 31, but NYA coach Tom Robinson doesn’t believe the data from that game is useful in analyzing the rematch.

“We had a week to prepare. We were at home. They played Buckfield the night before, and that’s always a hard game,” Robinson said. “It will be a different story this time.”

NYA point guard Luke Welch of Auburn believes the Panthers gained one thing from that previous engagement.

“Now we know we’re capable of beating them,” Welch said.

Hyde School of Bath faces Pine Tree Academy of Freeport in the other semifinal.

Class B semifinals also take the court today. On the girls’ side, Gray-New Gloucester meets Gorham at 2 p.m., while Greely tangles with Yarmouth at 3:30. Mountain Valley encounters Gorham in the boys opener at 7 p.m., followed by Lake Region and Cape Elizabeth.

Maine Public Television begins its annual coverage of the tournament with today’s semifinal matchups.

koakes@sunjournal.com

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