AUGUSTA

The odds were stacked against the Pine Tree Academy girls in its Class D South quarterfinal against second-seeded Rangeley on Monday at the Augusta Civic Center.

Figure, less than three weeks earlier, the Lakers defeated the Breakers twice in a 24-hour period, holding PTA to a combined 29 points.

The third time around proved a bit more fruitful for the Breakers, who found a bit of offense. However, Rangeley was too tough for the seventh-seeded squad, rolling to a 55-28 victory.

The Lakers rode the hot shooting of Natasha Haley, who outscored the Breakers herself in the first half, 18-15, as Rangeley carried a 28-15 edge to the intermission. Haley was dominant, pulling down 10 first-half rebounds for a double double at the break.

Haley finished with a game-high 23 points and added 19 rebounds as the Lakers outrebounded the Breakers, 36-25 and forced 33 turnovers.

“We are going to build,” said PTA coach Josh Dayen after his squad finished the season with a 5-14 record. “We have one senior starter on this year’s team, so everyone will be back next year. So, this was huge that they were able to get here. Most of the teams this year are powerhouses, but teams like Vinalhaven will graduate a lot of talent this year.

“For us, we will need to work in the summer. There was a gap in conditioning out there today. How we transition from now to next year will be huge. We can’t start next season trying to get reconditioned.”

Lakers wake up

The game started slowly, with neither team finding much room in the paint. Rangeley forced 11 first-quarter turnovers, but found itself in a 6-6 deadlock with 1:51 left in the frame.

Haley gave her team some space, hitting a pair of long 3- pointers for a 12-6 Lakers lead after a quarter. Haley had 11 points through eight minutes.

Pine Tree Academy hung in for a bit in the second quarter as Emily Schlisner scored five points. However, Haley scored seven more points, while some of her teammates began warming up. Six Lakers found the scoresheet as Rangeley carried a 13-point advantage to the break despite making just 10- of-38 shots from the field.

The Lakers found another gear in the third quarter, outscoring PTA, 15-8 for a 43-23 edge heading to the fourth. Haley scored her final five points, while Brooke Egan added a team-high eight.

The Lakers’ lead expanded to a game-high 30, 53-23, before Adriana DePalma, who played with four fouls from the midpoint of the second quarter, scored five straight points for the Breakers for a team-high 11 points.

Schlisner felt her team worked hard this season in advancing to the Civic Center.

“Being able to play here was great for us,” said Schlisner, who had nine points in the loss. “Our team really wanted this. But, we just got tired and Rangeley is a really good team. They play really good defense, which makes it tough to play against them.”