READFIELD — As it has all season, the explosive offense of the Maranacook/Winthrop girls lacrosse team played a gigantic role in its playoff opener.

Tied 7-7 late in the second quarter, the No. 1 Black Bears scored five unanswered goals before halftime on their way to a 17-11 victory over No. 8 Morse in a Class C quarterfinal Saturday morning at the Ricky Gibson Field of Dreams.

Maranacook/Winthrop (14-1) will host its divisional final game Wednesday against the winner of No. 4 Wells vs. No. 5 Erskine Academy. Sophomore Celia Bergdahl and freshman Stella Stewart led the Black Bears with four goals each, while freshman Cooper Davis and senior Ashley Deschamp each added three goals.

Senior Olive Beeton led the Shipbuilders (7-9) with five goals while Zoe Avery and Lillian Pomerleau each had two goals.

Maranacook/Winthrop jumped out to a quick lead in the first quarter. But Morse, playing shorthanded due to injuries, clawed back, as Beeton and Avery each scored two goals to cut the Black Bears lead to 6-4. Beeton and Pomerleau added goals early in the second quarter, and thanks to a score from Liz Bingham, the Shipbuilders tied the Black Bears 7-7.

“We knew we had to mark a couple (Morse players),” Bergdahl said. “We knew from the prior game things we needed to improve on and fix for this game. So we worked on those during practice during the week and it definitely helped us.”

Morse gave the Black Bears one of their toughest games all season, a 7-5 win for Maranacook/Winthrop on May 15.

“(Morse) match up really well with us,” Maranacook/Winthrop head coach Zach Stewart said. “There were a bunch of teams in the playoffs I’d rather play instead of Morse. They played hard all game long and did things really well. They’re well coached. We just happen to be on the (winning) side of the scoreboard today, which is a testament to these girls and their grit and tenacity.”

Maranacook/Winthrop found another gear, tallying five goals in the following five minutes. Bergdahl and Davis each scored two goals, while Deschamp added a score, eventually giving the Black Bears a 13-8 halftime lead. They never lost the lead again.

“Coach always talks about possession and possessing the ball,” Deschamp said. “At the end (of the half), we knew (Morse) was going to pressure us. He told us ‘Take (the shot) if you have it.’ But we always say, ‘Take the ball for 2 1/2 seconds, see if anyone is open, see if you can go and if not, pass it off.’ We just worked on that.”

Morse continued to fight throughout the second half, but couldn’t overcome the deficit.

“I’m very proud, and we had it at (7-7) at one point, but we let it get away from us,” Morse head coach Linda Levesque said. “Maranacook is a good team, they put pressure in transition and made us play fast. The kids gave it their all, and what more can you really ask for?”

Maranacook/Winthrop has now won 10 straight since its 12-9 loss to Class B Brunswick on May 4. In that stretch, the Black Bears have scored 142 goals, an average of 14.2 goals per game. It’s the sixth straight game they’ve scored 10 goals or more.

“A lot of us know our roles (on offense) and are very good at our roles,” Deschamp said. “We know who’s going to get the ground balls, we know who’s going to be looking for the cut and who is going to be cutting. We’ve really come to as a team this year.”