By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer

AUGUSTA – Maybe the elite girls’ basketball programs of the Mountain Valley Conference know each other too well.

On a Tuesday when sluggish, slow-starting quarterfinal collisions between league rivals were the rule, No. 4 Winthrop caused enough commotion with defense, rebounding and pleasant offensive surprises to bounce No. 5 Jay, 41-34, at Augusta Civic Center.

Winthrop (16-4) disrupted the Tigers’ rhythm by gluing Amanda Garwood to all-conference guard Kaylie DeMillo and allowing almost no second chances. Jay shot 12-for-55 (22 percent) from the field and grabbed only seven offensive rebounds all night.

“There’s not a better one-on-one defender in the conference than Amanda Garwood,” said Winthrop coach Sam Farrell. “She lives for it.”

DeMillo finished with what for her was a quiet 17 points, highlighted by three 3-pointers. Katie Mastine and Jessica LaBrecque provided the only other offensive presence for Jay (13-7) with six points apiece.

Emilie Knight chalked up 13 points, 19 rebounds and four blocked shots for Winthrop, which will face Hall-Dale in the semifinals at 3:30 p.m., Thursday. The Ramblers were the only team to defeat the MVC champion Bulldogs during the regular season.

One question mark in the next round will be Garwood, who injured her right knee in a third-quarter collision with Jay’s Liz LeBlanc and did not return.

“I think she’ll be fine,” Farrell said.

Lindsey Gordon, Brittany Gaudet and Katie Pushard took turns blanketing DeMillo after Garwood’s departure.

“She’s been guarded tougher than that,” said Jay coach Chris Bessey, whose team split two games with Winthrop earlier this winter. “Kaylie can hit that step-back shot with two people all over her. Tonight, those shots didn’t fall. When you’re a perimeter team, you’re going to have some of those nights.”

Layups were no friendlier to either team. Bessey counted at least five that rattled off the window and around the rim to no avail for Jay in the first half, alone.

Jay led 6-5 after one quarter. Two 3-pointers by Kaley Ball and a traditional 3-point play by Knight nudged Winthrop in front 17-14 at the half.

“I had freshmen out there scoring for us,” said Farrell, whose ninth-grade tandem of Ball and Gordon combined for 13 points and 12 rebounds.

The Tigers reclaimed the lead on hoops by Mastine and DeMillo to open the second half, but Winthrop answered with an 11-2 run to take its largest lead of the night, 28-20, on Justine Woodman’s steal and transition deuce with 2:14 left in the third.

Point guard Pushard controlled the tempo splendidly down the stretch for Winthrop. She also combined with Knight and Ball to go 5-of-6 from the line in the final 2:44.

“Our kids carried out the defensive game plan to a tee. If you had told me that we would hold Winthrop to 41 points and Knight and Pushard would have 17 between them,” said a befuddled Bessey, “I would have expected us to win.”