AUGUSTA — Deleyni Carr calmly sank the free throw, her Temple girls basketball teammates erupted with applause and the D South semifinal against Greenville was briefly delayed early in the third quarter as the latest member of the 1,000 point club was recognized.
“It was exciting,” said Carr, a junior guard. “I was like, ‘I can’t believe this has happened. I was excited for myself. It was a nice moment.”
The rest of the morning, however, belonged to the Lakers.
Jessica Pomerleau scored a game-high 15 points and towering junior center Halle Pelletier was a force at both ends of the court to lead No. 3 Greenville over Temple, 50-29, at the Augusta Civic Center.
Pelletier finished with a double-double (11 points and as many rebounds).
No. 3 Greenville (14-6), making just its third regional semifinal appearance in nine seasons, will meet No. 1 Rangeley in the D South final Saturday at 1:05 p.m. at the Civic Center.
Olivia Baker scored 11 points and Carr added 9 for No. 2 Temple, which finished 15-5.
“It wasn’t our day,” Temple coach Joe Rossignol said. “There are some teams you match up well against and some you don’t.”
It was the latter for the Bereans, who struggled to contend with the 5-foot-10 Pelletier, who also blocked three shots.
“We knew we were the better team,” she said. “We played tough defense and looked for good shots. Last year, we lost in this game and this year, hopefully, we have two more games left.”
The Lakers, who played teams primarily from D North in the regular season, alternated between a four-out — with Pelletier set up on the low block — and a high-low offense, which generated an abundance of open cuts and good looks at the rim.
“We knew we had a height advantage,” Greenville coach Maren Mason said, “and that we could dominate the boards. We knew we had to play good, clean basketball.”
The Lakers led 12-5 after the first quarter before Temple stormed back at the start of the second to pull within 14-11. Carr and Jamie Feugill each hit shots to pull the Bereans closer, but the charge was short-lived.
Greenville closed the half on a 12-0 run to take a 26-11 lead into the break.
Senior Abbigail Carrier scored four points and Pomerleau converted two fastbreak layups to spark the run.
Carr reached the 1,000-point milestone with 6:31 left in the third quarter and Baker later connected on the first of her two 3-pointers to help Temple hang around, but the Lakers pulled away in the fourth.
Pomerleau scored eight points in the quarter as the lead swelled to 20.
“We have a small team,” Carr said. “They had that advantage and that was the difference. We also had a lot of turnovers and we let it slip away. We need to keep our cool going into next year.”
Added Rossignol: “It was their day. If they play like they did, they can play for a championship. Our girls over-achieved this season, I am so proud of them. We’ll be back. We’ll certainly be back.”
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