Top-ranked Hall-Dale has lost only once to a Class C opponent, and that was to No. 2 Madison.

Madison has also lost only once to a Class C opponent, and that was to No. 3 Boothbay.

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And yet, when you look at the Western C girls basketball bracket, it looks like any of the top seven seeds could make a run and end up in the regional finals.

“I think the six and seven seeds (Mt. Abram and Waynflete) are pretty dangerous teams,” Hall-Dale coach Brandon Terrill said. “There’s a lot of strong teams. I don’t think there’s anybody really head and shoulders above everybody else.”

All four quarterfinal games are today at the Augusta Civic Center, beginning at 2:30 p.m. with Boothbay (12-6) facing No. 6 Mt. Abram (11-8).

With 6-footer Alex Clarke, 5-8 Allison Carbone-Crocker and 5-10 Meghan Smith, Boothbay’s height could bother Mt. Abram, especially since 5-10 Roadrunners junior Annie Dexter will be out of state and miss the game. Jill Howard and Miranda Smith are the top rebounders for Mt. Abram.

“That’s a tough matchup for us,” Mt. Abram coach Doug Lisherness said. “We have been playing a lot better ball lately, and, hopefully, we will be focused down there. We’re going to have to really check out on their bigs, (and) really work hard on D. We’re going to have to hit some outside shots against them.”

At 4 p.m., Madison (15-3) faces Waynflete (12-7). The seventh-seeded Flyers are led by junior Martha Veroneau, who scored 31 points in a 65-31 preliminary round win over Lisbon. Madison coach Al Veneziano was in the stands for that game.

“They’re a very explosive team,” Veneziano said of Waynflete. “We need to not allow the three-point shot. They take quite a few of those. We need to box out every single time, and not allow second shots at the basket.”

Madison has not allowed more than 30 points in a game since a 60-47 loss Jan. 28 to Boothbay. The Bulldogs have a smart, balanced offense and one of the top defensive players in the tournament in 5-7 guard Lyndsay Weese, who averages nearly 10 rebounds per game.

At 7 p.m., No. 4 Traip (10-8) will take on No. 5 Old Orchard Beach (12-7) in a matchup of Western Maine Conference teams. Traip swept the season series, winning 35-30 in Old Orchard in mid-December, then taking the Jan. 27 rematch 57-32 in Kittery.

While Traip’s record looks pedestrian, all eight of those losses were to playoff teams — except in this case, it’s Western B playoff teams. The Rangers lost two games apiece to York (14-4) and Wells (13-5).

The nightcap pits Hall-Dale (15-3) against No. 9 St. Dominic (8-11). The defending state champion Bulldogs got past St. Dom’s twice in December, winning 45-30 and 60-31. In the second game, Mountain Valley Conference Player of the Year Carylanne Wolfington had 37 points, 10 rebounds and nine steals for Hall-Dale.

It was about that time that teams started re-focusing their defenses to stop Wolfington, and the Bulldogs had a period of adjustment. They won five straight to end the season, and while Terrill said he wants everyone on the floor to be a threat to either score or set up a basket, he feels the main improvement of late has been at the other end of the floor.

“I think we’ve played our best basketball of the season down the stretch, and I think that’s because we’ve re-committed ourselves to playing defense and rebounding the ball,” Terrill said. “It really starts from there for us.”

Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243

mdifilippo@centralmaine.com