AUGUSTA — The chanps are finished, a streak is extended and the Class D South girls tournament is playing out as anticipated — so far anyway.
Hannah Hubbard scored 15 points and Deleyni Carr added 13 as No. 2 Temple pulled away from two-time defending regional champ Vinalhaven, 54-40, on Monday morning at the Augusta Civic Center.
The Bereans (15-4) advanced to their fourth straight regional semifinal while the Vikings (3-16) saw its reign in the region come to an abrupt end.
Temple will play No. 3 Greenville while No. 1 Rangeley will face No. 4 Valley in the semifinals.
“Everyone was involved today,” said Carr, who connected on three 3-pointers. “This was a really big win for us. This is the best shot we’ve had.”
Temple has never played in a regional final since it joined the Maine Principals’ Association in 2014.
But Monday the Bereans played like a team determined to make its own history this winter.
They led 13-6 after the first quarter and just 22-15 at the half, shooting just 9 for 29 from the field, but took the game over in a decisive third quarter.
Hubbard converted a nice fastbreak layup off an Olivia Baker blocked shot at the other end of the floor, and Carr buried a pair of 3-pointers to give Temple a 34-22 lead it would never relinquish.
“This year, we want to go deeper in the tournament,” Temple coach Joe Rossignol said. “We knew Vinalhaven would be tough. They are well-coached and a good team.”
Julianna Hubbard scored 12 points and Baker, a 5-foot-7 senior, grabbed eight rebounds.
“We wanted it,” Julianna Hubbard said. “We feel like we have a good chance this year.”
Added Hannah Hubbard: “We kept fighting. We played with some confidence.”
It didn’t start out that way, however.
While the Bereans always seemed in control — they never trailed and were tied just once — they struggled to gain much separation in the early going.
Hannah Hubbard scored six points in the first quarter and Carr got a nice roll to drop on a deep 3-pointer, but the Bereans made just five of their first 17 shots that allowed the also-struggling Vikings to stay in the game.
Vinalhaven, which made 14 of of 21 free throws to offset their own shooting woes, pulled to within five (20-15) when freshman Hope Cluff scored an inside basket toward the end of the first half.
Huff finished with a team-high 13 points and junior captain Hannah Newton added nine to pace the Vikings.
“We knew this was going to be tough,” Carr said. “They are the defending champs. It wasn’t going to be easy. It was tough early but we are always a second half team. We tend to go slow and then put it all together in the second half.”
The Bereans did just that in the second half, as they slowly pulled away.
They led 37-25 after three quarters and maintained the double-digit cushion when Carr and Hannah Hubbard sank free throws late in the fourth.
“It was a hard-fought game,” Rossignol said. “We had to get used to this court again as we didn’t play on it this year.”
Added Julianna Hubbard: “We made our shots and were making good passes. We pushed through.”
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