AUGUSTA

Old Orchard Beach has been “that” team for the Richmond High School girls basketball team over the past two seasons.

Two years in a row, the Seagulls sent the Bobcats home, including handing Richmond its only loss in a nightmarish 38-24 semifinal loss at the Augusta Civic Center last February.

As fate had it, the Bobcats and Seagulls met up again, this time on Tuesday in the Class C South quarterfinals. This year was different, as Richmond had an answer, holding third-seeded OOB to just 10 second-half points en route to a come-from-behind 33-30 victory.

Richmond (15-5), the No. 6 seed, faces No. 2 Monmouth Academy on Thursday at 2:30 p.m., while the Seagulls had their season end with a 16-4 mark.

Bobcats coach Mike Ladner has discussed several times this season the challenges of playing a full Mountain Valley Conference schedule after years in the East-West Conference. The coach felt those tough, grinding regular season contests prepared his team well.

“We went through some adversity today, and the girls fought through it,” said Ladner. “We have been here before and we faced these situations throughout the year.”

It was a struggle for Richmond in the first half. The Bobcats managed just 14 points and trailed by six at the half. OOB, with three players standing north of 6- foot tall, frustrated the Bobcats in the paint. Richmond standout Sydney Underhill- Tilton had a sea of long arms to navigate through, but still led the Bobcats with five first-half points.

On the other side, the Seagulls received six points from Brianna Plante and four from Meghan LaPlante. OOB outrebounded Richmond, 13-7, in the opening 16 minutes and forced 13 turnovers, most coming on traveling violations.

At the half, Ladner talked to his team about working harder.

“We talked about heart and desire at halftime, fighting for every loose ball and boxing out for every rebound,” Ladner said. “We were up three at halftime against the same team last year, and they scored the first eight or nine points, so we were prepared for them to come out hard.”

Trailing 23-16, Richmond used a 9-1 run to close the third quarter for a 25-24 lead. Bryanne Lancaster had the hot hand for the Bobcats, hitting a pair of 3-pointers and scoring seven of her game-high 13 points.

“I felt a lot better once my shots started dropping, and coach tells me to keep shooting,” said Lancaster, who had three treys in the contest.

OOB had trouble finding open shots, with Underhill- Tilton battling 6-footers LaPlante and Maggie Strohm inside. Her hard work led to nine tough inside points and 11 rebounds.

“We know teams are going to double and triple team Syd, and we know that others need to step up and tonight they did,” said Ladner. “Syd knows that she has to get those garbage points, grabbing a loose ball and going up for a shot.”

On the outside, Lancaster, Ashley Abbott, Caitlin Kendrick, Bryannah Shea and MaryBeth Sloat looked to take away open looks, with OOB making just three field goals on 15 attempts in the second half.

“We knew they were good outside shooters and we worked to get up in their face,” said Lancaster. “It helps us a lot to keep the score low. It allows us to work through some things and get those tight wins in the end.”

Richmond led 31-27 after a free throw by Abbott. But, Plante hit her third 3-pointer with 1:15 left in regulation to bring the Seagulls within a point, 31-30.

Abbott, who spent large chunks of time on the bench with foul trouble, stole an OOB pass, and, after a Richmond turnover, Lindsie Irish hauled in a big rebound as the Seagulls went for the lead. Irish missed a free throw, but Underhill-Tilton stepped inside of an OOB box out and grabbed the rebound. She was fouled and made a pair of free throws for a 33- 30 edge with 12 seconds remaining. The Richmond defense forced OOB’s 20th turnover of the game with one second left to close out the win and send the Bobcats into the semifinals.

Ladner felt his team picked up momentum from the boys game on Monday, when the Bobcats rallied in the second half to down Dirigo.

“The boys win was a positive for our girls after we saw the boys battle back last night, and Boothbay came back from 16 down against Waynflete to win. Anything is possible,” said Ladner.

Richmond shot 30 percent (10-of-33) from the field and made 8-of-13 at the freethrow line. OOB was held to nine field goals and shot 7-of- 12 from the charity stripe.

Kendrick had four assists and three steals for Richmond, while Plante paced OOB with nine points. Shani Plante picked up seven points in the loss.

No. 6 Richmond 33, No. 3 OOB 30

Class C South Girls Quarterfinal At the Augusta Civic Center

	Richmond	—	6	8	11	8	—	33
OOB	—		12	8	4	6	—	30

Richmond — Sydney Underhill-Tilton
2-5-9, Lindsie Irish 0-0-0, Caitlin
Kendrick 2-0-5, Bryanne Lancaster 4-
2-13, Ashley Abbott 1-1-4, MaryBeth
Sloat 0-0-0, Bryannah Shea 1-0-2.
Totals — 10-8-33.
OOB — Meghan LaPlante 1-2-4, Kaitlyn Cote 0-2-2, Maggie Strohm 0-0-0,
Shani Plante 3-0-7, Brianna Plante 3-
0-9, Meghan Niedzwiecki 0-3-3,
Samantha Donnell 1-0-3, Julia Clark
1-0-2. Totals — 9-7-30.
3-point field goals — (R) Lancaster
3, Kendrick, Abbott; (OOB) B. Plante
3, S. Plante, Donnell.
Records — Richmond 15-5, OOB 16-
4.
Up next for the Bobcats — Thursday
in the Class C South semifinals
against No. 2 Monmouth Academy at
the Augusta Civic Center, 2:30 p.m.