AUBURN – They’ve progressed quite a ways already this basketball season. Now the St. Dom’s girls’ basketball team wonders how much further it can go.

The Saints finished off the regular season with a 59-31 win over Old Orchard Beach Tuesday. St. Dom’s was ranked 13th in the latest Western C standings. Now the Saints wait to see how the final tournament pairings finish.

“They’ve come a long way since the beginning of the season,” said St. Dom’s assistant coach Mike Murphy. “They’ve gelled, and now we’re ready for the tournament.”

The Saints expect to have a preliminary game next Tuesday on the road. Depending on the matchup, St. Dom’s could have a pretty good shot at reaching the quarterfinals after losing in the prelims at Winthrop last year.

“I think the team feels a lot of confidence,” said Murphy. “The whole second half of the season was a step up from the first half. Now they’re going into the playoffs ready to play, and their goal is to get to Augusta.”

The Saints lost seven players from last year’s club and had a wealth of newcomers. St. Dom’s had plenty of potential and have slowly put the pieces together under first-year coach Paul Rheaume. Rheaume missed the season finale due to a death in the family.

“At first we weren’t really together and weren’t playing as a team,” said senior Sara Theriault. “Now we know where everybody’s going to be. We know how we all play. We know how to work together and know how to work under pressure.”

The Saints finished off the Sea Gulls and the regular season with a convincing 22-5 third quarter. Both teams struggled with turnovers, combining for over 60. When the Saints started handling the ball better, the offense started clicking.

“It was definitely a big night for us because it was senior night,” said senior Catherine Joseph. “We got off to a slow start. After halftime, we were a little bit more relaxed and that helped. I think it took awhile for us to get warmed up, but once we did, we were on.”

Joseph led the Saints (10-8) with 16 points while Allaina Murphy added 15. Old Orchard (2-13) got 15 from Lauryn Goyet.

The Saints recognized seniors Ariane Bowie, Joseph, Theriault, Morgan Whitney and Jen Cullen before the game. The Saints then burst out to a 16-5 lead in the opening quarter. Though OOB had 18 turnovers in the first half, the Saints had 15, and the Seagulls were able to make a dent in the lead in the second quarter, trimming the lead down to 20-15 on a Goyet jumper. A basket by Elise Applegate and a pair by Murphy finished the half with a 26-15 lead. The Saints then blew the game open with a 19-2 run. The Saints hit seven of its first eight shots.

“The third quarter, we stopped doing that,” said Mike Murphy of the turnovers. “We stopped forcing the ball inside and started making smart passes.”

The Saints had just one turnover in the third quarter and got six points from Joseph and five from Murphy during that run.

“Tonight was an important game not only because it was senior night, but also because our head coach Paul Rheaume was unable to be there,” said Joseph. “I think we showed him that even if he’s not there, we still are able to use what he’s taught us throughout the season to win ball games.”