PORTLAND — Lake Region wanted to mix things up on defense and give Lisbon different looks during Tuesday night’s Western Class B quarterfinals. 

The Lakers’ strategy was so effective and so well-executed in the second half that the Greyhounds and their fans were beginning to wonder if they would ever score, and once they did score, if they could do it again.

No. 4 Lake Region limited No. 5 Lisbon to just six points in the second half to pull away with a 46-21 victory at the Portland Expo. The  Lakers will face top-seeded York in the semifinals at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

“We were able to play multiple defenses tonight and the kids did a great job communicating and staying all on the same page,” Lake Region coach Paul True said. “We had very few breakdowns in the second half defensively.”

That’s an understatement. The Lakers (15-4) nearly shut out the Greyhounds (14-5) in the third quarter to inflate a seven-point halftime lead to a commanding 15-point margin heading into the fourth quarter.

“We didn’t execute offensively. We missed some shots and they played great defense. They rotated very well,” Lisbon coach Jake Gentle said.

Lisbon endured a sloppy start with six turnovers and trailed 15-6 after one period. But the deliberate pace favored the Greyhounds, and they were able to climb back into the game with a 9-5 run in the second quarter. Renee Moore (nine points) hit a 3-pointer midway through the quarter to make it 19-13 and light a fire under the Greyhounds and their fans.

The Greyhounds went up-tempo briefly to get Alicyn Fitzgerald a layup off a missed LR free throw that drew them within 20-15, but Kelsey Winslow scored on a put-back just before the buzzer to send the margin back to seven at halftime.

“I was a little more happy at the end of the second quarter than I was at the end of the first quarter,” Gentle said. “The first quarter, we had some jitters and some unforced turnovers, but we settled down and made some shots and made some good passes. Scoring the basket at the last second was a momentum shift for them.”

True wanted the Lakers to force a more dramatic shift in the pace of the game.

“We talked about that at halftime,” True said. “We were fairly patient on offense, but we weren’t really moving the basketball and creating good shot opportunities. We needed to pick the tempo up.”

They did, thanks mostly to the Greyhounds missing their first 16 shots in the third quarter.

Abby Hancock sparked the Lakers with a layup and a 3-pointer to start the second half. After two Morgan McClean free throws, Meghan Craffey scored back-to-back hoops off Lisbon turnovers to make it 33-15. Jessica Campbell finally erased the Greyhounds’ goose egg with a put-back of her own miss and a free throw with 22 seconds remaining in the quarter.

Lisbon’s offensive woes didn’t end there. Lake Region scored the first nine points of the fourth while the Greyhounds struggled to even get the ball in the hands of their top scorer, Moore.

“I thought Chelsey Meyers did a terrific job playing between her and the basketball and I thought we did a great job providing some backside help to try to contain her because she’s an outstanding player,” True said.

Craffey finished with a game-high 15 points. Hancock, McClean and Meyers added eight points apiece for the Lakers.