AUGUSTA — It was a great situation. Rangeley had a lead and Greenville’s Gretel Breton was sitting on the bench with three fouls.
Rangeley took advantage, taking a lead into the locker room, but didn’t make the most of it. Trailing by two at the half, Greenville dominated the second, thanks to Breton.
The Greenville forward scored 16 points and grabbed five rebounds in the second half as Greenville pulled away for a 46-29 win in the Western Class D girls’ basketball final Saturday at the Augusta Civic Center.
“I don’t think we took advantage when Breton was out of the game and that can really come back to bite you,” Rangeley Coach Heidi Deery said.
Second-ranked Greenville improves to 16-2 and advances to play Eastern Maine champion Fort Fairfield in the state championship game next Saturday at the Augusta Civic Center at 1 p.m.
Greenville was making its first tournament appearance in five years after going 16-40 over the last three seasons.
“We have never been here (the Augusta Civic Center),” said Greenville center Saige Weeks, who finished with 11 points and 14 rebounds.”
The last time we were here I was in middle school. We were determined to get here, not win Western Maine, but we’ll take it.”
Fourth-seeded Rangeley, which does not have a senior on its roster, ended the season at 14-7.
Breton finished with 18 points and seven rebounds for Greenville. She picked up her third foul late in the first quarter and missed most of the second.
She then picked up her fourth foul with about a minute left in the third, but stayed in the game and scored eight points in the fourth quarter to spark the win.
“I think I got more scrappier, knowing we had to pick it up,” Breton said. “I was just thinking we really had to win this game. I thought I was going to foul out. I really did.”
Breton actually started the rally in the third, scoring four straight points as Greenville took its first lead since early in the first quarter. She finished with eight points in the third as Greenville took a 23-20 lead.
“You can look at their offense taking off, and I give them credit and wish them all the luck in the world next week, I hope they take it, but our offense let us down in the second half,” Deery said. “We’ve struggled with that all year.”
Rangeley shot just 5 of 23 in the second half and managed just 16 points and also turned the ball over 11 times.
In the first half, Rangeley struggled offensively as well, but was able to take a 13-11 lead at the half. Greenville struggled to create any offense in the half with Breton picking up her third foul with 42.4 seconds left in the first quarter and spending much of the second quarter on the bench.
Chantal Carrier scored 10 points for Rangeley. Jenney Abbott added nine rebounds and Allie Hammond had six points.
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