By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

AUGUSTA – John Martin knows what he’s talking about when it comes to lower ranked teams making an unexpected run in the playoffs. So all week long, the Yarmouth coach preached to his Clippers about avoiding an opening round pitfall.

“I told them Don’t assume,'” said Martin. “I don’t care if they’re the (ninth) team. When I coached at NYA, we came out of the 11th spot and made it to the finals. I know that a team can do that.”

For a half Friday night, Gray-New Gloucester helped Martin realize those fears. The Patriots stayed with the top-ranked Clippers and were within a point at the half, but Gray-NG hopes for an upset couldn’t last. A strong Yarmouth third quarter dashed the Patriots’ hopes in a 41-23 win in a Western B quarterfinal.

“We’ll be back,” said Patriots coach Harvey Moynihan, who coached the NYA boys the same time Martin coached the girls’ program. “We have four sophomore starters. To get to Augusta, that was kind of a goal. Everything else was gravy.”

The Patriots (7-13) did a superb job frustrating Yarmouth’s inside game with a zone defense. The Clippers post tandem of Aylie Baker and Meridith Shaw were held to just six points total in the first half. Meanwhile, the Patriots executed well at times in the halfcourt and used a late second quarter spurt to keep pace with the top-ranked Clippers (18-1).

“We haven’t played a zone all year,” said Moynihan. “So I thought that kind of surprised them. We just don’t much up well.”

Gray-NG could only hang around for so long, however. Yarmouth, which beat the Patriots, 59-49 and 63-39 in the regular season, got its post game going. Baker had seven points in the third quarter as Yarmouth outscored Grey-NG 16-4 in the quarter. A 14-0 run for the Clippers was too much for the Patriots to match.

“The zone bothered us, but we were trying to do what we’ve done all year long, but we just didn’t do it,” said Martin. “We had passes that didn’t hit the mark. We just threw the ball away.”

The Patriots hit were just 1-for-12 to start the quarter and saw its offense dry up.

“It’s hard to stop the bleeding,” said Moynihan. “We were going to try and press them, which we’ve done for a little success, but we couldn’t score.”

Baker finished with 13 points while Melissa Moylan added eight. The Patriots were led by Olivia Ryan with seven and Jen Farynaz with five.

A Baker rebound boosted the lead to start the second half. After a Ryan hook shot made it 18-17, the Clippers sailed away. After two Shaw free throws, Baker scored on a three-point play. Shaw set up Christine Attura for a score, and Alexandra Brunelle hit a 3-pointer. Baskets by Baker and Moylan added to the lead. The Patriots only other score of the third quarter came on a Ryan basket with 17 seconds left.

“Our forte is to use our size and get the ball inside,” said Martin. “Our guards have done a wonderful job all year long getting the ball inside. We had trouble with that in the first half, but the second half was much better. We finished a little bit better.”

Despite having its inside game neutralized for much of the first half, Yarmouth still managed to build a 12-4 lead early in the second quarter. Back-to-back jumpers by Attura had the Patriots in a hole, but Grey-NG quickly erased it and were within one by halftime.

A Leanne Waterman jumper started a 9-2 spurt. After Baker got her second basket of the half on a rebound, Ryan scored and Farynaz hit a three-pointer to get the Patriots within 14-11. Farynaz then set up Ana Danieli down low. Though Yarmouth got free throws by Shaw, her only points of the half, a drive from Stephanie Googins made it 16-15.

“We really had them where we wanted the,” said Moynihan. “We should have had the lead there, but we missed a layup at the end fo the quarter.”