AUGUSTA — Rangeley watched two of the top three seeds go down immediately before their quarterfinal with seventh-seeded Valley, so the second-seeded Lakers weren’t going to be caught taking anything for granted.

Rangeley shut out Valley in the second quarter and allowed just two points in the entire first half to cruise to a 46-10 win Tuesday at the Augusta Civic Center.

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Staff photo by Joe Phelan Rangeley defenders Natasha Haley, left, and Maddison Egan, right, double team Valley junior guard Jordan Belanger during a Western D quarterfinal Tuesday at the Augusta Civic Center.

Next up for the Lakers is one of the teams that pulled off an upset earlier in the day, No. 6 Searsport, which shocked No. 3 Forest Hills. They will meet in the semifinals at 10 a.m. on Thursday.

Even though they’d witnessed the perils of looking past a quarterfinal in person, the Lakers still had to shake off some rust they’d accumulated from nearly two weeks without game action.

“We were definitely rusty today,” said senior guard Seve Deery-DeRaps, who led the Lakers with 11 points, six rebounds and five assists. “We got the ‘W.’ It wasn’t pretty, but we got it.”

Rangeley’s defense is why it quickly had this game in hand. It limited Valley (8-12) to 1-for-17 shooting in the first half

“We really felt last year that (defense) was something we didn’t pay enough attention to and focus on coming down the stretch,” Rangeley coach Heidi Deery said. “Really, the whole season, but the last two weeks it has been all about defense. I’m just glad today that it showed. We’ve still got work to do for Thursday, but I think the foundation for what we need is there.”

“When you’ve got three kids over 6-feet tall, in Class D, you’re going to win 99 percent of your games, just by having size,” Valley coach Paul Belanger said. “The other thing is, they’re skilled. They’re not just tall. They have good skills. That’s why they’re the favorite to win.”

Samantha West scored Valley’s only basket late in the first quarter to make it 7-2. After that, it was all Lakers (18-0). They weren’t as sharp offensively as they have been at other times this season, and Valley kept up its defensive effort to keep the margin from being a lot wider than the 22-2 Rangeley led at halftime.

The Lakers hadn’t played a game since their regular season finale on Feb. 4. They did scrimmage Western C top seed Maranacook last week, but finding someone to scrimmage during the layoff between regular and post-season has become increasingly difficult in recent years due to restructuring of the tournament format.

“You know, we’ve been waiting to player here for a while,” said Deery, whose team had to wait an extra day to play their quarterfinal due to the schedule disruption caused by Saturday’s storm. “I know one day doesn’t sound like a big deal, but when you don’t have a preliminary… but it’s just a long time to wait. I wish the MPA would really look at that, because I think it’s, in some ways, a disadvantage not to have a preliminary. I think everyone should have a preliminary game.”

Lacking crispness offensively, Rangeley still built a 28-2 lead before Delayne Davis (five points) hit a 3-pointer to end the scoreless streak with 4:27 left in the third quarter.

“We don’t look by anybody,” Deery said. “Other people want to talk about later in the week. No way. Several times in the last week and several times today I told the girls we’re playing Valley. That’s the only thing we’re focusing on. I don’t think it’s ever a good idea to look by anybody.”

Taylor Esty also had 11 points and Natasha Haley added eight for the Lakers.

Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638

rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com

Twitter: @RAWmaterial33

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