By STEVE CRAIG 

Special to the Press Herald

PORTLAND — Coach Kristy Parent said it’s rare for people to get a do-over in their lives, rarer still to make it better.

Monday night, her Sanford High girls’ basketball players got that second chance against Cheverus and took advantage with a 45-42 Western Class A quarterfinal victory at the Portland Expo.

On Feb. 5, the fifth-seeded Redskins (15-4) squandered a late lead at fourth-ranked Cheverus (14-5) with turnovers and indecision, losing 50-47.

“There’s not much in life you can do over,” Parent said. “We had an opportunity to do it kind of over and we talked a lot this past week how we would handle the situations down the stretch, you know, up by two, down by two. And we did it.”

Still, it looked like Cheverus might pull off another late comeback.

Lindsey Nolette of Sanford (17 points) started the fourth quarter with her fifth 3-pointer for a 38-33 lead, only to have Cheverus score six straight on a Kylie Libby putback, a pair of free throws by Britni Mikulanecz and a sweet inside shot by Brooke Flaherty (12 points) with 4:50 to play.

Sanford, a senior-laden team, made the plays the rest of the way, starting with a strong catch and finish by sophomore Heather LeBlanc to regain the lead. Then Shae Riley sealed off Mikulanecz, took a good entry pass and completed a three-point play for a 43-39 lead.

There was 3:07 to play, but those points would prove to be enough. Cheverus rushed shots down the stretch, shooting 2 of 12 in the fourth quarter.

With Sanford leading 44-42 and Cheverus working for a last shot with no timeouts left, Nolette sealed the win by stealing the ball with 12 seconds to play.

“I play defense on (teammate) Taylor Flood every day and she’s much quicker than I am and it finally paid off,” said Nolette.

Sanford will meet top-ranked Deering in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Friday at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

Nolette missed her first five shots as Cheverus took a 13-6 lead after a quarter. Nolette was 3 of 3 from behind the arc in the second quarter.

“She’s very confident, and I think especially in these clutch situations she takes it even more serious,” Parent said. “She just kept shooting, and good shooters do that, right?”

While Cheverus was 3 for 12 in the second quarter, Sanford had six players score.

Riley scooped in an offensive rebound and Chrysta Wilson buried a deep 2-pointer off a second-chance post pass to put Sanford up 20-17.

When Nolette drained her second and third 3-pointers of the quarter down the stretch, the Redskins went to halftime ahead 27-20.

Morgan Cahill of Cheverus, bothered by Sanford’s physical play in the first half, found her shot in the third quarter, scoring 11 of her team’s 13 points to cut the Sanford lead to 35-33 entering the fourth.

Cheverus Coach Richie Ashley and his players were not available for comment after the game.