AUGUSTA – When Heidi Deery noticed Sabrina Clark was being left alone at the perimeter, the coach made sure her senior guard was aware of it.

“I knew I had a job to do and my job was to shoot from the outside,” said Clark, who wasn’t even a starter on last year’s club. “It was working for me. So I was definitely going to keep on doing it.”

Clark helped lead the Lakers with a career-high 16 points, none bigger than a pair of baskets in the final quarter, as Rangeley turned the tide on an upset-minded Valley. One jumper cut Valley’s lead in half and the other gave Rangeley the lead for good as the top-seeded Lakers survived with a 63-60 Western D semifinal win.

“She’s been doing that for us all year long,” said Deery. “Everybody underestimates that kid. You could see that they weren’t even guarding her. I told her: ‘You’ve got to take offense to that.’

“She’s had big ballgames for us, chipping away with 10 or 12 points, whatever it takes. That kid has advanced her game as a senior to a completely different level.”

Clark’s effort epitomized Rangeley’s game Thursday. Valley’s defensive job took the Lakers’ tandem of Romero and Sarah Schrader out of the game at times. It forced the Lakers to look for other options. Clark, Justine Frost-Kolva, Rosie LaPointe and Ashley Morton all responded. Romero had 16 points and 12 rebounds. Frost-Kolva added 12 and seven rebounds while Schrader finished with 10 points.

“Everybody was key,” said Deery. “Ashley Morton came in and played the whole second quarter, and it was a complete team effort. These kids are tough.They just really wanted it.”

Valley (16-3) upset Rangeley in last year’s semifinal and was well on its way to doing it again. The Cavaliers led the game well into the second half. Between Kristin Baker’s 29 points and 18 from Melanie Vicneire, Valley picked apart Rangeley’s defense. Rangeley struggled to get its offense going, especially with Romero nursing foul trouble.

“They definitely had a game plan and they stuck to it,” said Deery. “They’re well-coached. We tried to combat it, and sometimes we did. They’re a lot better than a No. 4 seed.”

Unlike last year when foul trouble, composure and free throws plagued the Lakers, Rangeley kept it together down the stretch. Once Clark gave the Lakers the lead, LaPointe came up big at the line, something Rangeley didn’t do a year ago. She hit six straight free throws, combating a barrage of 3’s by Baker that kept Valley within reach.

“It almost didn’t surprise me because she’s a great player and great under pressure, but we just had to answer, ” said LaPointe, who finished with nine points. “When we were here last year we found out that free throws can win games because we didn’t put all of ours down. Our team basically decided this year that we weren’t going to lose that way.”

Valley had the lead up to as many as eight in the third quarter, but back-to-back hoops to Romero inside helped pull the Lakers within 46-42 to start the fourth.

“We knew we wanted to get it inside even though they were playing great defense on her,” said Deery. “That’s where we wanted the ball. We just looked to get the ball inside and let Krysteen take care of business.”

A three-point play by Schrader and a 3 by Frost-Kolva tied it with 5:43 left, but a quick Valley surge put them ahead again. Baker set up Jeri-Dee Fitzmaurice inside, and a pair of baskets by Baker put the Cavaliers ahead 52-48 with 3:25 left.

“I thought losing Loretta (Fitzmaurice) and especially Mel was really critical,” said Valley coach Gordon Hartwell, who watched those two starters foul out late in the fourth. “That’s a piece we can’t replace. The other things is that they hit the free throws.

“They executed. I think we did too, but we had a couple of minutes where we missed a couple of good looks and against a good team, you can’t get away with that.”

Clark hit a jumper from the corner with 3:25 left to get Rangeley within 2. Romero followed up numerous misses to tie it with 2:43 left. Then Clark put Rangeley (19-0) ahead for good with another shot from the corner with 2:09 left.

Baker missed a bid to tie and then fouled Schrader, who hit one. Romero scored with :46 left to built the lead to 57-52 but Baker began a string of eight straight points for Valley, including a pair of three’s that kept Valley within a basket. LaPointe preserved the lead with her free throws and a Baker shot at the buzzer fell short.

“We never stopped believing,” said Clark. “We knew from the beginning that we were going to win. No matter what happened whether we were down the whole game or whether we were up the whole game, we had to just keep believing.”

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