PORTLAND — Collars tighten in the quarterfinal spotlight of Portland Expo, and for three-and-a-half quarters Tuesday, No. 2 Gray-New Gloucester looked like the team with the oxygen deficit while No. 10 Poland took the deep, cleansing breaths.

The air quality changed just in time for the Patriots to pull away for a 45-37 victory, a tournament career first for five seniors.

“Definitely there was some pressure, but it feels good to finally get a win at the Expo,” senior Maria Valente said.

Valente finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds for Gray-New Gloucester (18-1), which will face No. 3 Greely in the semifinals at 2 p.m. Thursday.

Grace Kariotis and Alicia Dumont combined for 12 points in the fourth period, permitting the Patriots to expand a tenuous 30-28 lead. Caroline Littlefield’s 3-pointer beat the buzzer in the third to pull the Knights (10-10) within a pair.

“We said if you’re going to go down, go down swinging. We played like a team that was supposed to win and was afraid to make a mistake to make us lose instead of making plays to make us win,” Gray-New Gloucester coach Mike Andreasen said.

Gray-NG opened the fourth with an 8-0 run. Kariotis converted a feed from Valente with a jump shot from the top of the key. Skye Conley hit a free throw before Dumont delivered a 3-point play. Conley put back Kariotis’ miss for a double-digit lead with 4:35 to go.

Poland, beaten 47-23 and 37-19 by Gray-NG during the regular season, wasn’t done. Michaella Arsenault broke the Knights’ cold snap with a 3-pointer, and Nathalie Theriault followed with a steal and layup to make it 38-33.

“People didn’t think we had a chance to win. We tried to play with a chip on our shoulder,” Poland coach Mike Susi said. “We didn’t make it easy for them, ever, in all three games. The girls aren’t afraid to play a team that’s big and strong and physical like Gray is.”

The Patriots won it from the line, swishing five of their next six to supplement an over-the-top pass from Valente to Kariotis for an easy bucket.

Kariotis posted 10 points for the Patriots. Conley added nine and Dumont chalked up seven.

“This is all about survival. You don’t have to win pretty. You just have to win,” Andreasen said. “And the next game many people are picking us as an underdog, which is fine with us. That works. This game we had everything to lose.”

Arsenault led all scorers with 16 points in her final game for Poland. Littlefield added eight.

Poland was making its first-ever quarterfinal appearance after winning at Oak Hill in the preliminary round.

“This should become the expectation,” Susi said. “We broke a barrier and made it to the tournament. We should push to get here again and win a game. That should be the next step.”

The Knights showed shock-the-world intentions, off and on, all afternoon.

Neither team scored in the final 3:41 of the first quarter, with the Patriots clinging to a 7-6 lead.

Conley connected down low to start the second, but Arsenault’s 3-pointer triggered a surge of six unanswered Poland points. Theriault found Madeline New out of the Knights’ press breaker for two. Arsenault added a free throw.

“Michaella Arsenault was as good as I’ve seen her in a long time,” Arsenault said. “She really took over.”

There were three more lead changes, with two Valente free throws putting Gray-NG in front to stay, 15-14, with 3:26 left in the half.

Hope Kohtala hit a 3-pointer late in the quarter. Valente responded with three free throws after she was fouled beyond the arc for a 25-19 lead at intermission.

Gray-NG went 18-for-24 from the line.

“Towards the end we knew they were going to be fouling us, so we just had to get it in the hands of players who were confident,” Valente said.

koakes@sunjournal.com