Summer camps and recreational basketball are so ubiquitous to the youth sports experience that players rarely pick up the sport after junior high.

In that respect, Rangeley junior Sierra Machacos might be a one-in-a-thousand athlete at this year’s tournament: A starter who never played organized hoop until she was a freshman.

“And I mean until November of her freshman year, she had never played basketball,” said Rangeley coach Heidi Deery. “That’s just a credit to her, and I’d like also to say our program, where kids can (do that) if they want to put in the hard work and be part of a team. That?s what Class D basketball is all about. Hats off to her and her hard work.” Machacos was more than a role player Thursday. Her seven first-quarter points staked Rangeley to a quick, double-digit lead they never relinquished in a 42-27 semifinal victory.

“I guess I just wanted to try it out,” Machacos said of her choice to join the team two years ago. “I’m getting more and more comfortable. My team helps give me confidence.” After a quarterfinal win in which Allie Hammond and sisters Chantal and Emily Carrier did most of the scoring, the Lakers received a huge boost from everyone in their lineup.

Jennie Abbott scored five points and was a force on the boards. Emily Carrier nailed a timely 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter. Alanna Lauter snagged four crucial defensive rebounds in the second half off the bench.

“It was important for all of us to be offensive threats,” Hammond said.

Court Awareness

 When the Leavitt girls’ basketball team had to travel to the Portland Expo to open its Western B tournament action, it wasn’t such a daunting change of pace for the hot-shot Hornets.

“We played at the Expo in our summer leagues,” said Leavitt coach Tammy Anderson.

After beating Gray-New Gloucester at the Expo Tuesday, Leavitt advanced to Thursday’s game at the Cumberland County Civic Center. That was an entirely different challenge. The ice rink-turned-basketball court tends to be bad news for shooting teams. With so much depth behind the basket, it can be difficult for teams to adjust to. That might have been a hardship for the Hornets in Thursday’s loss to Greely.

Leavitt shot just 10-for-51 from the floor and 15-for-27 from the line. That included 1-for-6 from the floor in the second and 3-for-20 in the decisive third.

“I don’t think we talked to the kids about that but the majority of team is young,” said Anderson. “So you never know what you’re going to get.”

Leavitt played hard and scrapped throughout the game but a key part of the Hornets’ offense is it’s shooting and that was hard to come by. Greely, meanwhile, had experience on the same court and showed a level of comfort with the atmosphere. Greely turned the game around by hitting 10-for-15 in the third quarter.

“I knew they like to shot 3’s but I know it might be hard because it’s definitely different than the Expo,” said Greely senior guard Nicole Faietta, who led the Rangers with 15 points, including three 3-pointers. “I felt like we had more experience than they did because we had been her before, and we knew what this court is like.”