AUGUSTA — Sarah Orr and Selena Lorrey combined for 41 points Tuesday night to lead fifth-seeded Traip Academy to a 54-43 victory against fourth-ranked Jay in a Western Class C girls’ basketball quarterfinal at the Augusta Civic Center.

Orr scored 21 points and Lorrey had 20 to help the Rangers get past the quarterfinals for the first time in six seasons.

Traip (11-6) will play top-ranked Hall-Dale (18-1) in the semifinals at 4 p.m. Thursday at Augusta.

The Rangers led for most of the game and finished with a 14-2 run after Jay went ahead for the only time early in the fourth quarter.

“We knew they were going to make runs, make shots and hit 3s, and we just tried to stay composed. We did a nice job at the end stretching it,” Traip Coach Paul Marquis said.

Orr scored 11 points in the third quarter to help blunt a rally by the Tigers, who trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half.

Jay (15-4) opened the fourth quarter with six straight points to move into a 41-40 lead. But Lorrey scored seven points to help fuel the Rangers’ closing surge.

“Give more credit to our girls for just withstanding (the Jay rally),” Marquis said. “We missed a few too many foul shots, let’s say, but we made a few when we needed to at the end.”

Lorrey scored nine points in the first quarter to help the Rangers break out to a 17-7 lead.

“That was a great start to the game,” Marquis said. “We played hard defensively and we got a lot of good looks.”

The Tigers sank 11 of 14 free throws in the second quarter to stay close, but Traip held a 27-20 halftime lead.

Beth Moore sank 12 of 16 free throws and led Jay with 18 points.

It was the Rangers’ first game in exactly two weeks.

“Our last game was two Tuesdays ago,” Marquis said. “We tried to stay sharp but it’s hard to simulate the speed and the intensity there’s going to be up here.” 

Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:

pbetit@pressherald.com