AUGUSTA — At its very core, the most integral aspect of the game of basketball is putting the ball into the basket. Old Orchard Beach had no trouble doing that throughout the regular season and during an easy preliminary round victory, but the Seagulls found it to be a more difficult task against Mountain Valley on Tuesday. OOB made just two field goals in the first half, and nine for the whole game, in falling to the Falcons 41-27 in a Western Maine Class C girls quarterfinal at the Augusta Civic Center.

“I think right off the tip we got what we wanted. We won the tip, then a great easy layup rimmed out. I don’t know if that was omen of what was to come, but we got the shots we wanted,” said Old Orchard Beach head coach Dean Plante.

The fourth-seeded Seagulls looked to be just unlucky early, as through four possessions apiece they had four misses while the No. 5 Falcons had three turnovers and a miss.

Then Mountain Valley finally connected on its fifth possession ”“ a layup by Ashley Russell ”“ and jumped out to a 10-1 lead before Haley Plante knocked down a 3-pointer with 20 seconds to play in the first quarter for the Seagulls’ first basket.

Seeing that first shot go through the hoop did nothing to change the Seagulls’ fortunes, however, as another 3 by Plante was the lone basket in the second quarter. Meanwhile, the Falcons continued to pull away, with a pair of 3s by Karen Flaherty pacing the deficit building.

Plante finally called a timeout with 1:30 left in the half, as his team had fallen behind 21-7.

“As much as you like to think you got answers, everything we were doing was what we wanted to. You kind of hope they play out of it,” Plante said regarding why he waited to use his first timeout.

OOB stopped the bleeding to a degree, as the score remained 21-7 heading into halftime.

The Seagulls came out early from the locker room to get some extra shooting in, but even those shots generally failed to fall. When Mountain Valley put five defenders on the court, the results didn’t change.

“We knew that they loved to take the ball to the hole. We worked really hard at playing good team defense, but also really matching strong on the ball handlers,” said Mountain Valley head coach Ryan Casey. “And also getting out on their shooters. They’ll shoot from anywhere; those girls are not afraid to shoot the ball.”

OOB kept shooting, and the Seagulls kept missing. Mountain Valley stretched its lead to 25-7 until Mackenzie Rague made a layup with 5:12 left in the third quarter for the Seagulls’ first made 2-pointer.

Plante called his second timeout right after, and at that point the Seagulls began to show some signs of life. They ended the quarter on a 10-6 run, cutting the deficit to 12 heading into the fourth.

A baseline jumper by Peyton Feitz with 5:45 left in the game further cut the deficit to 10, but the Seagulls couldn’t close to within single digits.

Old Orchard Beach had an advantage in experience, as the Seagulls started four seniors and a junior, while Mountain Valley started two juniors and three sophomores. That didn’t seem to matter for the Falcons.

“They are very young. We’ve seen them play with nerves and play like eighth-graders, and we’ve seen them come out and play like seniors,” said Casey. “And lucky for us tonight, they played with a lot of composure, they handled the pressure real well.”

The Falcons made enough free throws down the stretch ”“ 6-of-10 in the fourth quarter ”“ to hold off the Seagulls’ comeback attempt. They also didn’t allow OOB to accumulate steals that turn into easy layups that the Seagulls are used to.

“For 24 months ”“ two seasons ”“ we’ve been telling them as soon as we can stop turning the ball over, we can be in big games and we can compete,” said Casey.

For the Falcons, it was their first win in the quarterfinal round since 2009 and their first postseason appearance since 2012 ”“ before any of the starters were in high school. For the four Seagull seniors, Tuesday’s loss ended a run of four straight trips to the quarterfinals ”“ including an appearance in the semifinals in 2012.

Plante said they will be missed.

“Four daughters. One biological, but four legit. I love those girls; they’re awesome,” Plante said of his daughter, Haley, as well as Rague, Abby Dubois and Lauralee Small. “They’ve set the program to a new standard since they were freshmen. They’ve done some amazing things: four straight trips to Augusta, averaging 14 wins a year, offseason training. The standard’s been set, and a lot of young kids gained a lot from that group this year. It’s going to be awful losing them.”

Plante scored a team-high nine points ”“ on three 3-pointers ”“ while Rague added eight. Dubois and Feitz were the only other scorers for OOB.

Emily Laubauskas scored a game-high 10 points for Mountain Valley, while Russell pitched in with nine and Flaherty had seven. The balanced scoring fell in line with what Casey said is the norm for his team, as his top scorers averaged 10, nine, and eight points per game.

Mountain Valley matched OOB’s game total for shots made in the first half alone, and made 15 for the game. Plante said that just about described the game and its outcome.

“There’s no mystery. It’s about making shots, and tonight we didn’t,” Plante said. “They made more.”

— Sports Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or sports@journaltribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.