Nicola Mancini of Falmouth knew it wouldn’t be easy to break the 400-point diving barrier for the first time.

After eight dives at the Class B swimming and diving state championships Saturday night at the University of Maine’s Wallace Pool, Mancini stood at 295 and a fraction with only three dives remaining.

She nailed all three, none better than her penultimate dive, an inward one and a half in pike position with a 2.4 degree of difficulty that netted her 48 points all by itself. A junior who also won the state title a year ago, Mancini wound up with 416.15 points to become the first schoolgirl to surpass 400 at the state meet since Katie Mailman, also of Falmouth, set the meet record (457.20) in 1998.

“There’s basically no room for any major mistakes or big misses,” Mancini said of achieving the goal she set for herself this season. “You have to nail every one, pretty much.”

Gina Mancini, Nicola’s older sister, still holds state or meet records in the 50-yard and 100 freestyle, the 100 breast stroke and the 200 free relay. Nicola, however, gravitated toward gymnastics.

“When I stopped (gymnastics),” she said, “my mom thought the diving would be a good idea for me.”

Good call, Mrs. M.

THE WESTERN MAINE Class A and B boys’ basketball semifinals have the potential to be four outstanding games.

After the quarterfinal rounds this past weekend at the Expo, the tournament moves to the Cumberland County Civic Center for the next two rounds. The Class A semifinals are Wednesday night and Class B is Thursday.

The matchups in Class A have No. 1 Cheverus vs. No. 5 Portland and No. 2 Bonny Eagle vs. No. 6 Deering.

In Class B, it’s No. 1 Greely vs. No. 4 Yarmouth and No. 2 Cape Elizabeth vs. No. 3 Yarmouth.

All the teams played well, some better than others, to advance. Now the question is which teams will adjust to the Civic Center environment and reach Saturday’s finals.

TWO POINT GUARDS, who had high-scoring openers Saturday afternoon, will square off in Thursday’s 7:30 p.m. Class B semifinals. Sam Johnston of Greely scored 31 points in the win over Gray-New Gloucester and Josh Britten of Yarmouth had 28 points in a win over Mountain Valley.

MORSE HIGH’S stunning 53-43 loss to Messalonskee on Friday in the Eastern Class A girls’ quarterfinals left everyone wondering what happened.

The Shipbuilders were 17-1 entering the game. Messalonskee twice this year didn’t score 20 points in a game.

But the Shipbuilders were never able to get into their offense. Wanting to move the ball inside, Morse instead relied on shooting from the outside and was cold all night.

“We never really got the ball inside, it was always an afterthought,” said Coach Mike Hart.

Even when the Shipbuilders got inside, they missed a lot of easy layups.

One of Morse’s strengths all year was its ability to go on long scoring runs. It couldn’t against Messalonskee.

Afterward, Hart didn’t know what to say.

“It’s just hard. You don’t ever have anything to say when you go into that locker room and the girls are crying,” he said. “It’s not an easy thing. At the end of the day, you wish you just had another day to play. And we don’t.”

It is believed to be the first time a No. 1 lost to a No. 8 team in the quarterfinals in girls’ Class A history — East or West.

YORK HAD TO RALLY to beat Leavitt in the Western B boys’ quarterfinals, 52-47, at the Portland Expo on Saturday. The Wildcats didn’t play the Hornets in the regular season because they are in the KVAC.

But they knew Leavitt would be tough.

“We’re lucky to get away with this one,” said guard Kyle Robinson, who scored all 11 of his points in the fourth quarter. “That’s a great team we played.”

AFTER THE STATE girls’ hockey game Saturday, the winning St. Dominick team was celebrating on its end of the ice, after a 6-1 win over York.

But some of the Wildcats were tossing gloves in the air, too, and they all gathered around goalie Olivia Drew for one last huddle. York (15-4-2) had accomplished much this season, and had reason to celebrate.

“We had a great season,” York Coach Kevin Banfield said. “I’m really proud of what we did this year.”

He shrugged.

“Hopefully we have a shot next year.”

York loses only two seniors. With the numbers that Banfield and assistant Bob Blais attract, the Wildcats will be contenders again next year.

St. Dom’s, meanwhile, will graduate the cornerstone of its team, defender Sophie Goulet, along with four other seniors — including forward Lauren Ratsep, who had a hat trick Saturday.

THE BIDDEFORD BOYS’ hockey team goes for an unbeaten regular season record today when the Tigers play against South Portland at 1:45 p.m. at the Portland Ice Arena. The Tigers (14-0-3) will be the No. 1 seed in Western Class A when the playoffs begin next week. South Portland (6-9-2) is currently in seventh place in the Heal point standings.

Biddeford survived the two toughest East teams last week, beating Lewiston 2-0, and tying St. Dominick 3-3.

The talk of the Lewiston game remains the fluke goal scored when Eric Grover made a pass from his own end to Brady Fleurent in the neutral zone. The puck flew off Fleurent’s stick, into the air, landing behind the goalie and in the net.

“I was just looking for the open guy and saw Brady cutting to the middle,” Grover said. “I made the hardest pass possible. It tipped off his stick, went in the air. I lost it.”

So did everyone else, until the referee pointed to the net. 

— Staff Writers Glenn Jordan, Tom Chard, Mike Lowe and Kevin Thomas contributed to this report.