BANGOR and AUGUSTA — The 2014-15 school year high school basketball playoffs are in full swing with the regional quarterfinals being played Friday, Feb. 13, Saturday, Feb. 14 and Tuesday, Feb. 17. Now, the regional semifinals are underway with games being played Wednesday, Feb. 18 and Friday, Feb. 20.

The Eastern Class B playoffs are being held in Bangor at the Cross Insurance Center, while the Western Class D playoffs are being held in Augusta at the Civic Center. 

Also, readers can access updates on Facebook or Twitter. 

Click here for our photo gallery from each game we cover.

Western Class D Girls: #2 Rangeley 39, #6 Searsport 35 [FINAL]

Rangeley keeps its composure to overcome Searsport

At Augusta, the No. 6 Searsport girls came out on fire in the first quarter, slowed down in the second and then went cold in the second half falling to a steady No. 2 Rangeley squad 39-35.

Rangeley could easily have been rattled the way the Vikings came out playing, but they held their composure and stayed on track with they game plan fighting back the entire game until they took over in the fourth quarter.

Rangeley will now play No. 4 Richmond, who defeated Vinalhaven in their Friday morning semifinal match up, Saturday, Feb. 21, at 10 a.m. inside the Augusta Civic Center for the Western Class D Regional Championship. Rangeley played Richmond in the regular season defeating them 46-26 to open the season and 51-34 the second time around.

Searsport was riding the shooting of junior Melinda Ogden for the first quarter and kept trying to feed it to her the rest of the game despite the fact she was cold after nailing four 3-pointers in the first half.

The result was only four points per quarter for the Vikings in the third and final stanza.

Meanwhile, Rangeley played a steady game, feeding the ball to Taylor Esty, whoo used her size not only to score, but to dominate the boards as well.

Searsport led 17-14 after the first quarter and 27-20 at the half. Then the cold set in and the Vikings could not buy a basket allowing Rangeley to close the gap to just two points 31-29 at the end of the third. Rangeley then outscored Searsport 10-4 in the final eight minutes for the win.

Scoring for Searsport were Ogden with 16 points, 12 in the first half; Brittany Ward 13; Anna Bucklin five; and Karigen Coffin one.

The Vikings were 8-of-9 (89 percent) from the foul line and they tallied five 3-pointers, Ogden with four and Bucklin one.

For Rangeley, Esty had 16 points; Seve Derry-DeRaps nine; Blayke Morin and Madison Egan six each; and Natasha Haley two.

Rangeley was 6-of-12 (50 percent) from the foul line and they had three 3-pointers, two from Derry-DeRaps and one from Esty.

Searsport finishes the season 13-8.

Click here for a photo gallery from the Searsport and Rangeley game

Western Class D Girls: #4 Richmond 35, #9 Vinalhaven 28 [FINAL]

Vinalhaven’s Cinderella ride comes to an end

At Augusta, the No. 9 Vinalhaven Vikings had knocked off No. 8 Buckfield in the preliminary round and then in the most miraculous comeback, eliminated No. 1 Pine Tree Academy in the quarterfinal to get them to the semifinal game played Friday against No. 4 Richmond.

After losing twice to Richmond in the regular season the Vikings were hoping their magic would continue in the playoffs, but the Bobcats had other ideas and held on in a scrappy game for the 35-28 win to advance to the Western Class D Regional Championship against No. 2 Rangeley. The Lakers played Richmond twice during the regular season defeating them both times. The two teams will matchup Saturday, Feb. 21 at 10 a.m.

Richmond led after each quarter in this game, 9-5, 20-9 and 28-19 as they headed into the final stanza.

The Vikings struggled to find the basket waiting for someone to get hot, unfortunately for the Vikings, no one did.

Meanwhile, Richmond had a good second quarter, and was able to outscore the Vikings 15-8 in the second half.

Vinalhaven is a very young team with only three seniors graduating, Ashlyn Littlefield, Ashley Davis-Oakes and Danielle Newton, while having six freshmen on the team with three or them getting quality minutes.

Scoring for the Vikings were Gilleyanne Davis-Oakes with nine points; Deja Doughty six; T. Littlefield five; and Paige Dennison and A. Davis-Oakes four each.

Vinalhaven was 7-of-18 (39 percent) from the foul line and they had one 3-pointer from Littlefield.

For Richmond, Sydney Tilton had a game high 11 points; Meranda Martin eight; Kelsey Anair six; Cassidy Harriman and Kalah Patterson three each; and Autumn Acord and Emily Dovin two each.

The Bobcats were 10-of-16 (63 percent) from the foul line and they had one 3-pointer from Patterson.

Click here for a photo gallery from the Vinalhaven and Richmond game

Eastern Class B Girls: #9 Gardiner 53, #4 Camden Hills 42 [FINAL]

Gardiner depth wears out Windjammers for trip to regional final

At Bangor, the No. 9 Gardiner girls used their bench and rode the back of Mary Toman to a 53-42 win over Camden Hills in the Eastern Class B regional semifinal at the Bangor Cross Insurance Center Wednesday afternoon.

Toman tallied 16 points and double digit rebounds while the defense from the Tigers held the Windjammers to 18 second half points. 10 of those 18 points came late in the fourth quarter from senior Rachel Pease.

Gardiner will now play No. 2 Presque Isle for the Eastern Class B Regional Championship Saturday, Feb. 21 at 2:05 p.m.

No. 4 Camden Hills finishes its season 15-6 after a 13-5 regular season and a preliminary win at home over Foxcroft Academy. They then defeated No. 5 Oceanside in the quarterfinals to advance to the semifinal.

Gardiner led after the first quarter 12-10 and the two teams played to a 24-24 tie at the halftime break. The third quarter saw the Tigers pick up the defense, holding Camden Hills to just six points while scoring a dozen themselves for a 36-30 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Tigers went on an 8-0 run to start the fourth and Camden Hills found itself in a hole it could not did out of. After too many turnovers, and inability to find the basket by the Windjammers, the Tigers held the big lead and went on to the win.

The game featured 10 lead changes — seven in the first half — and four ties. Gardiner took the lead in the middle of the third quarter and never relinquished it.

Camden Hills got into a little foul trouble early with both of its big girls with Pease picking up two fouls in the first quarter and Eliza Boetsch picking up two fouls quickly in the second quarter forcing coach Meg Cressler to make some early substitutions that she may not have made otherwise.

Both Camden Hills’ Charlotte Messer and Gardiner’s Toman scored 13 points to lead their teams in the back and forth first half. While they both fell off on scoring in the second half, Toman managed to still control the boards while her teammate Morgan Carver poured in 14 second half points including 8-of-10 from the foul line.

For Camden Hills, it was all Pease after she picked up her fourth foul as she scored the final 10 Camden Hills points.

Scoring for Camden Hills were Messer with a team high 17 points; Pease 12; Maddie Bowman seven’ and Boetsch six;

The Windjammers were 7-of-8 (86 percent)from the foul line and they had one 3-pointer from Messer.

For Gardiner, Carver had 17; Toman 16; Logan Granholm seven; Lauren Chadwick six; Savannah Vinton-Mullens five; and Leslie Stevens two.

The Tigers were 16-of-32 (50 percent) from the foul line and had one 3-pointer from Granholm.

Click here for a photo gallery from the Gardiner and Camden Hills game

Eastern Class B Boys: #1 Medomak Valley 59, #12 Mount Desert Island 47 [FINAL]

Medomak Valley battles its way to Eastern Class B championship game

At Bangor, the No. 1 seeded Medomak Valley boys knocked off a tough No. 12 team from Mount Desert Island team 59-47 Wednesday night at the Cross Insurance Center in an Eastern Class B semifinal game.

The Trojans took a first quarter lead 17-14, but the Panthers bounced back for a 29-21 lead at the halftime break.

Medomak held a five point lead at the end of the third 40-35 and outscored the Trojans 19-12 in the final stanza for the win.

With the win, the Panthers have advanced to the Eastern Class B regional championship game Saturday in Bangor at 3:45 p.m. against No. 2 Winslow who knocked off Old Town in the other semifinal Wednesday.

Medomak Valley lost to Winslow 62-49 in the regular season and then beat them in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference championship game 66-63 bringing this championship game to the rubber match between these two teams. 

Medomak started the game with a 6-0 lead, but soon found themselves on the short end of a 15-10 game as MDI came charging back. The Panthers managed to cut it to three points by the end of the quarter. 

The second quarter was all Medomak outscoring the Trojans 15-4 as the defense, particularly Zack Starr picked up the pace and the Panthers closed out the half with a comfortable eight point lead.

MDI would not go away though as they started the third quarter hot going on a 7-0 run to close the gap to three points. The Trojans were within two points at the last second when Nicholas DePatsy jacked up a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Panthers a five point 40-35 lead.

The fourth quarter was up and down the floor with both teams giving it everything they had and leaving it all on the floor. While the final score was a 12-point lead, it did not reflect the way the game was played by both teams. MDI just could not find the basket on many attempts in the final quarter while Medomak went 15-of-18 from the foul line in the waning minutes of the game. 

Scoring for Medomak were Micah Williamson with 20 points; DePatsy with 18; Cameron Allaire eight; Zach Starr six; Colton Spear five; and Robert Cole two. 

The Panthers were 25-of-34 (74 percent) from the foul line and they had two 3-pointers, both from DePatsy.

For MDI, Riley Swanson had 19 points; Russell Kropff eight; Aaron Snurkowski six; Graham Good five; James O’Donnell four; Andrew Phelps and Drew Rich two each; and Aaron Boumil one.

MDI was 11-of-15 (73 percent) from the foul line and they had four 3-pointers, all from Swanson. 

Click here for a photo gallery from the MDI and Medomak Valley game

Reach George Harvey at sports@penbaypilot.com.

Reach Ron Hawkes at hawkesnews@gmail.com.