By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

AUGUSTA – Frank Donald will admit that looks can be a little deceiving.

Sure, his Livermore Falls girls’ basketball team averages nearly 60 points per game, but that doesn’t necessarily mean his Andies are a regular offensive juggernaut.

“We score a lot of points, and people think we’re a good offensive team, and we’re not,” said Donald. “We score off our press. When you don’t score, you can’t press. When you can’t press, you can’t score.”

The Andies faced that dilemma Tuesday in their Western C quarterfinal game against St. Dom’s. When the Saints handled the Andies pressure well, it forced Livermore’s offense to carry the load. It took until the second half, but the Andies got both the offense and defense producing points in a 46-32 win over the Saints.

“They say an ugly win is better than a good-looking loss,” said Donald. “I guess that’s true, and we survived and moved on. We actually didn’t play our game by any stretch.”

The effort still produced the Andies’ first win in the quarterfinals since 1991.

“It’s our first time,” said senior forward Lacey Hazelton. “So we’re really excited. I wish we could have come more than once. I’m glad I get to play more than one game.”

The Andies advanced to Thursday’s semifinal with Dirigo thanks to a burst in the third quarter that answered St. Dom’s best offensive moments of the game. The Saints, who have never won in Augusta and were making their first trip to the quarterfinals since 1997, got within 22-18 early in the third quarter but watched the offense dry up. The Saints subsequently missed 11 straight shots and went 8:36 between field goals.

“We couldn’t finish it off,” said St. Dom’s coach Chet Lenfestey, whose club handled the Andies frantic defensive pressure but couldn’t find the offensive consistency. “We knew that coming in. (The pressure) wasn’t a surprise. We tried to prepare for it.”

Taryn Flagg led the Andies (15-4) with 15 points while Rachel Ventrella and Hazelton each had eight. Abby Gilbert led the Saints (16-5) with 10.

The Andies opened up a lead in the second quarter, thanks to a three-point play from Jenika Kelley and a 3 from Flagg. After Flagg hit a jumper it was 13-6, and the Andies had the lead up to as many as eight by halftime.

The Saints, which hadn’t been in the Western C quarterfinals since 1985, had their best offensive spurt to start the third quarter. St. Dom’s used a 6-2 run to get within 22-18. After a Malley O’Shea basket and a Hazelton rebound for the Andies, baskets by Katie Lyon and O’Shea cut the lead to four with 6:01 left in the quarter. The Saints wouldn’t get another field goal until midway through the fourth quarter and had nine turnovers in the third quarter.

“A game can turn on two or three plays,” said Lenfestey. “We had a few mental errors right at key times.”

Livermore answered the Saints run with a 12-2 stretch that opened up the lead for good. Flagg set up Marjorie DeBrosky for a pair of fast-break hoops around free throws by Ventrella. After a Gilbert free throw for St. Dom’s, Ventrella and Flagg each hit 3s for a 34-19 lead.

“We weren’t scoring,” said Hazelton. “So we couldn’t press. We like to score off our press. In the third quarter, we really stepped up and started to play our game.”