Lawrence star Nia Irving, the Kennbec Valley Athletic Conference Class A Player of the Year, tweeted that she had been waiting 364 days for the Bulldogs’ quarterfinal game against Messalonskee. The Bulldogs won that one with ease, but they’re still two wins away from a regional championship.
Lawrence, the No. 2 seed at 18-1, will go after the first of those two wins against No. 6 Brunswick at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday in an Eastern A girls basketball semifinal at the Augusta Civic Center. Following that game, No. 1 Bangor (18-1) takes on No. 4 Edward Little (15-4) in the other regional semifinal.
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One year after being upset by Messalonskee in the quarterfinals, the Bulldogs eased to a 65-44 win over their year-long tormentors. Lawrence led by 19 at the half, and Irving finished with 27 points and nine rebounds.
“It was kind of an emotional game, so we played awful good at the time,” Lawrence coach John Donato said.
Julia Champagne, who is averaging about 22 points per game, leads Brunswick. Although Lawrence defeated the Dragons 71-50 in the regular-season finale, Donato won’t take Brunswick lightly — and not just because No. 1 seeds like the Mt. Desert Island girls, the Pine Tree girls, and the Boothbay boys have been knocked off in the past week.
“We’re a little worried,” Donato said. “They played with Bangor. They played with a lot of teams. We’ve got to bring our A game.”
Irving led the KVAC A in scoring and rebounds this season, point guard Dominique Lewis led the league in assists and 3-pointers, and Paige Belanger is as good of a second or third option as you could ask for. Still, Donato thinks this game will come down to defense.
“We (got to) step (up) our defense,” he said. “When we play defense, our offense will take care of itself. When we talk our A game, we talk defense.”
Bangor is coming off a major scare in the quarterfinals, as the Rams needed Katie Butler’s block in the final seconds to secure a 41-40 victory over Hampden. Edward Little, meanwhile, pulled away from Mt. Blue in the quarterfinals for a 43-32 win. Bangor and EL played each other on Dec. 12, with the Rams pulling out a 54-52 win in Auburn.
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
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