Abby Marstaller leads Greely with 14 points.
By Kevin Mills
Staff Writer

AUGUSTA – Jim Seavey thought his team could develop into a playoff contender, but what the Greely Rangers have done certainly exceeded all expectations.

The Rangers went 16-2 in the regular season and earned top seeding in the Western Maine Class B field. Wednesday, Greely earned a second straight trip to the regional final.

Greely opened up a one-point halftime lead with a dominant third quarter and advanced to Friday’s championship game against Gorham with a 47-29 win over Yarmouth.

“I thought we’d be in the middle of the pack,” said Seavey, who graduated six seniors and had just two starters returning from last year’s regional champions.

“I hoped we’d get here, obviously. I thought we could get back here, but to be 18-2 and come in as the No. 1 seed, we’ll take it. These kids, there’s something about them. They’ve got a lot of heart and desire. They don’t know how to lose.”

Yarmouth, who beat the Rangers in the regular season finale, hung tough for much of the first half and trailed 19-18 at the half.

The second stanza was a different story. Greely (18-2) raced out to an 11-4 run to start the third quarter and never looked back.

“We said at halftime that we needed to step up a notch and put a little more ball pressure on them, get up into the passing lanes and create off of the defense a little bit,” said Seavey, whose club is in the regional title game for the sixth time in the last eight years. “We increased a one-point lead to a 13-point lead. That’s a lot more comfortable than a one-point lead, and it was all because of the defense.”

Abby Marstaller led the Rangers with 14 points. Brigitte Demers added nine while Michelle Robb had seven. Yarmouth was led by Aylie Baker with 10.

Marstaller and Demers had big roles in the third-quarter surge. Marstaller had six points in the 11-4 run and Demers added five points during a 16-4 quarter.

“Brigitte Demers was huge and Abby really took control of the third quarter,” said Seavey.

Fifth-ranked Yarmouth (13-7) shot just 2-for-7 in the third quarter and had nine turnovers. Greely hit its first four shots and six of its first seven.

The defensive stops fueled Greely’s transition game which sparked the offense.

After Yarmouth got a Baker basket with 4:49 left in the quarter to get the Clippers within 25-33, Greely ran off 10 straight to finish the quarter.

Marstaller hit a leaner and Demers followed with a three-point play.

After Robb scored on a fast break, Emma Dickson converted a three-point play for a 35-22 lead.

“Through the course of the year we’ve started to gel more and more,” said Seavey.