By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer

GORHAM – Here’s a sample analogy from the Scholastic Aptitude Test, college basketball style:

Warren Hill Gymnasium on Sunday afternoon is to a night at the symphony as Warren Hill Gymnasium on Friday night was to a Monsters of Metal tour.

Yes, it was a sedate atmosphere at the NCAA Division III sectional championship game. University of Southern Maine players shy away from self-promotion, so they’ll never admit it, but you can attribute the dip in decibel level to a lack of urgency and mystery.

No. 4 Southern Maine completed the Final Four puzzle with an 80-69 triumph over unranked, pleased-as-punch-to-be-here Springfield that was never in doubt after the Huskies held the Pride scoreless for a seven-minute stretch of the first half.

Winners of 28 consecutive games and 30 overall, both school records, Southern Maine will meet Millikin (Ill.) in the national semifinals Friday at Virginia Wesleyan University in Norfolk, Va.

With Friday’s overtime thriller against behind them and consensus one-two Scranton and Bowdoin beating up one another on Saturday night, this one was more of a deep, cleansing breath than one that would make the Huskies hyperventilate.

Megan Myles led five USM players in double figures with 19 points. She also shared the team high with eight rebounds as the Huskies hammered out a double-digit advantage on the boards.

“We knew they would have trouble guarding us inside because of our quickness,” said USM coach Gary Fifield, who guided his team to its third Final Four in the last eight years. “That was part of our game plan. Unfortunately, we got into a little bit of foul trouble carrying that out.”

That wasn’t a problem, either. Even with Myles and Ashley Marble sitting out a minute here or two minutes there thanks to early whistles, USM exhibited its depth in every area.

Inside, Marble (15 points, eight boards) and sophomore reserve Shannon Kynoch (11 points, six caroms) established dominion. Outside, Donna Cowing (13) and Katie Frost (11, including 3-for-5 from 3-point land) took over.

Friday’s freshman hero at the free-throw line, Trish Sylvain, added five points, six boards and three assists in 24 minutes.

“Anybody on the team can score,” said Cowing, a junior who joined the starting lineup late in the year after third-leading scorer Tiffany Jones was dismissed from the team. “We just had to go out like we’ve done all season.”

Springfield stormed to a 13-6 lead by doing what it had to do against bigger, more-tournament tested Southern Maine: Hitting a flurry of outside shots while making the Huskies miss eight of their first 10 attempts from the floor.

Erin Schwartz, Courtney Parvin and Kacey Wunsch each scored an early hoop. Then Tara McCarthy canned three straight, capped by a 3-pointer from the top of the circle put the Pride up by seven with 14:55 remaining.

Five different players scored during the 20-2 USM run that followed. Myles notched seven points in the surge, including the deuce that got it started. Marble connected down low to give the Huskies the lead for good with 10:50 left.

By the time Lisa Welch and Myles cashed in powerful post-up moves and Cowing got into the act with a put-back, the Huskies had scored 16 unanswered points and owned a 26-15 edge.

“Wow. I guess that’s my first comment,” said Springfield coach Naomi Graves. “When we got to that eight-point deficit, we started to unravel defensively. Gary was giving the green light to our shooters, and we weren’t able to hit the kind of shots we needed to take advantage of it.”

McCarthy, a freshman guard, led all scorers with 22 points. That came as a result of 7-for-21 shooting, however, including 3-of-10 from 3-point range. Parvin added 17 points for the Pride (25-6).

Even when Springfield whittled the gap from a dozen to 39-32 at the half, it didn’t feel like a seven-point game. And with Marble scoring four points in the opening minute of the second half, sure enough, it wasn’t a seven-point game for long.

Later, Myles embarked on her own, personal 6-2 run before picking up her third foul.

“Southern Maine has been here before,” Graves said. “You get the sense that their kids know what it’s going to be like. My team, there was a time today when I had three freshmen on the floor.”

USM doesn’t suit up any seniors, but the Huskies conducted themselves like a team whose close tournament wins over Bates, Ithaca and Maine Maritime infused a boatload of confidence.

The Huskies shot nearly 50 percent from the floor, and they never allowed the lead to slip beneath the seven-point halftime margin.

Kynoch didn’t miss a shot in the second half, when the six-foot sophomore from Vermont scored all her points and more than doubled her season average.

“You look at us every game and we usually have four kids in double figures,” Fifield said. “I think we had nine players score in double figures at least once this season. That’s a key thing at this time of year. When one person’s struggling, another person is there to pick them up.”