AUGUSTA – The Mountain Valley Conference Invitational, a.k.a. Western Class C girls’ basketball tournament, has an invader.

No. 3 Traip Academy accomplished something Tuesday afternoon that its program hadn’t done in 13 years and few Western Maine Conference Class C teams have done in the meantime – taking out an MVC opponent at Augusta Civic Center.

Eleven different Rangers reached the scoring column, led by Kelly Finneran with 13 points and 11 rebounds, as Traip bounced No. 11 Georges Valley, 62-42, in the regional quarterfinals.

Traip (13-4) is the only non-MVC team among the eight in the Western C bracket. The Rangers have a chance to avenge last year’s tourney loss to No. 2 Hall-Dale in the semifinals at 2 p.m. Thursday.

Jessie Estes added 11 points, six steals and five rebounds for the Rangers. Kendra Kuehl chipped in nine points off the bench.

Kate Letourneau paced the Buccaneers (9-11), who upset conference rival Boothbay in the preliminary round to reach the quarters, with 10 points and nine rebounds.

Traip led 18-8 after one quarter and 35-19 at the half, and Georges Valley never crept closer than 10 thereafter in a whistle-filled contest. The teams combined for 45 personal fouls.

The last time Traip topped an MVC team in this building, it beat Livermore Falls in the 1991 semifinals before losing to Mt. Abram in the championship. Traip’s win was only the ninth tournament triumph by a WMC team against the MVC in the last dozen years.

koakes@sunjournal.com

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