AUGUSTA — Having seen the No. 1 and No. 3 seeds in Western Class D have their respective seasons end in the quarterfinals earlier in the day, second-seeded and undefeated Rangeley wasn’t going to take Valley lightly. 

And the Lakers didn’t, despite the rust that comes with playing for the first time since Feb. 4. 

Rangeley led from start to finish, suffocating the No. 11-seeded Cavaliers in the process, 46-10, at the Augusta Civic Center on Tuesday. The Lakers will play Searsport, who took down third-seeded Forest Hills, in the regional semifinals. 

“We don’t look by anybody,” Rangeley coach Heidi Deery said. “Other people want to talk about later in the week. No way. We came down here several times in the last week and several times today I told the girls, ‘We’re playing Valley. That’s the only thing we’re focusing on.'” 

The Lakers (18-0) needed 5:16 of the first quarter to match the Cavaliers’ scoring output for the game. Rangeley scored the first seven points before Valley’s Brittany Ward scored the Cavaliers’ only basket in the first half with 5:38 left in the first quarter. 

Rangeley scored 28 of the game’s first 30 points. It led 22-2 at halftime as all five Laker starters had at least two points in the first 16 minutes. 

Despite being in control from the opening tip, the Lakers displayed their fair share of rust in their first game in nearly two weeks. They turned the ball over 22 times — 11 in each half. 

“We were definitely rusty today,” Rangeley senior Seve Deery-DeRaps said. “We got the W, wasn’t pretty, but we got it. We’re definitely rusty. We haven’t played since two Wednesday’s ago and we had a scrimmage against Maranacook, but we’re still a little rusty.” 

Deery-DeRaps finished with a game-high 11 points, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers late in the third quarter to stretch the Laker lead to 38-7.  

“I just let it come to me if I’m open and that’s what the offense is calling for,” Seve Deery-DeRaps said. ” I just take my three and it happened two times so I took it.” 

The Lakers were 4-for-8 from behind the arc and 21-for-47 from the field. 

Rangeley’s biggest advantage was evident from the  opening tip. With two players over 6-foot for the Lakers and Valley’s tallest player measuring in at 5-7, Rangeley had a clear size advantage. While Taylor Esty (6-1) and Blayke Morin (6-2) didn’t overwhelm the Cavaliers on the scoreboard — they finished with 11 and four points, respectively — they made life difficult for Valley on defense. 

The Cavaliers (8-12) shot 3-for-33 from the field as Esty and Morin altered a bulk of those shots at the rim. The Lakers held a 35-21 edge on the glass. 

“When you have two kids over six-feet tall, in Class D basketball you’re going to win 99 percent of your games,” Valley coach Paul Belanger said. “The other thing is they’re skilled. It’s not like they’re just tall. They have good skills. That’s why they are the favorite to win. They’re good players.” 

Rangeley’s defense shutout the Cavaliers in the second quarter and held them without a point for more than 18 minutes between the first and third quarters. It also blanked them for the final 6:03. 

For Deery, she was just happy to see her team play after the long layoff. 

“We’ve been waiting to play here for awhile and I know one day doesn’t sound like a big deal, but when you don’t have a preliminary game — we did have a scrimmage last week with Maranacook that went great — but it’s a long time to wait,” Deery said. ” … I’m glad we were able to get this one in and get down here and take care of business, but we needed to play.”