Pine Tree Academy’s Chantal Mbonimpa defends an outlet pass by Valley’s Kirsten Bigelow during a Class D South semifinal on Thursday in Augusta. Valley won 80-17 and will face St. Dominic in the regional final. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

AUGUSTA — When you win by an average of more than 45 points, it might be easy to grow a little complacent this time of year.

Valley girls basketball coach Gordon Hartwell will have none of it.

“Our philosophy is ‘next possession,’ not ‘last possession,'” Hartwell said after his top-seeded Cavaliers routed No. 5 Pine Tree Academy 80-17 in a Class D South semifinal Thursday at the Augusta Civic Center.

“Whether you get a 3-pointer or kick it out of bounds, that’s gone,” he continued. “Playing hard is not a sometimes thing. You’ve got to play hard whether you’re playing good or playing bad throughout the whole thing. The girls really embrace that. That’s what they’re looking to do, too.”

They have indeed embraced Hartwell’s philosophy. Just listen to Madeline Hill, who scored 20 points Thursday.

“Coach says that a lot, which definitely helps a lot,” Hill said, “because when we get it (a bad play) in our heads, we’ve got to be like, ‘Well, we’ve got to forget about that one, because no one’s going to remember it 15 minutes from now.”

Liana Hartwell (17 points, 14 steals), Kirsten Bigelow (14) and Rylee Clark (10 points, 10 rebounds) also scored in double figures for Valley (20-0), which has won by an average score of 73.6-26.3 this season.

Valley will go for its second straight regional title at 1 p.m. Saturday when it faces third-seeded St. Dominic, which beat Forest Hills 54-49 in Thursday’s first semifinal.

Chantal Mbonimpa scored eight points for Pine Tree (10-10), which suited up only six players.

How Valley did it

• The Cavaliers forced one turnover after another and had a 23-2 advantage in steals. Liana Hartwell, a freshman who saw regular action last season as an eighth-grader, was a thorn in Pine Tree’s side, pilfering the ball from ball-handers all day. She had 11 points and six steals in the third quarter.

• Valley was 11 for 16 from the free-throw line, and Hill was 10 for 11.

The key moment

• The game was scoreless until Bigelow drained a 3-pointer with 4:01 remaining in the first. Valley led only 7-5 after Pine Tree’s Chantal Mbonimpa sank a 3-pointer with 2:03 left in the quarter. But the Cavaliers went on a 29-0 run to take a 36-5 lead into halftime. Hill scored 12 points in the second.

“We were getting the shots we wanted (early), but they just weren’t getting in,” Coach Hartwell said. “(Pine Tree) worked hard, but we kind of figured over time our kids would stretch things out.”

Season sweep

• Valley defeated Pine Tree for the third time this season. The Cavaliers won 81-22 on Jan. 18 and 70-23 on Feb. 3.

Key statistics

• Valley: Madeline Hill (20 points, 10 for 11 from the free-throw line), Liana Hartwell (17 points, 14 steals), Kirsten Bigelow (14 points), Rylee Clark (10 points, 10 rebounds)

• Pine Tree: Chantal Mbonimpa (eight points), Maddy Verrill (10 rebounds)

Up next

St. Dominic is a bit of an unknown for Valley, since the Cavaliers and Saints did not face off in the regular season. Charli Apodaca (22 points) and Kara Farrington (21) led St. Dom’s in Thursday’s semifinal win.

“They’re tough,” Hartwell said. “They’ve got a bunch of shooters, they’re not real thick on the bench, but they do have shooters and people that are aggressive, and they have good defense and they try to run. It’ll be a good game.”