The Boothbay Region High School Lady Seahawks advanced to the Western Maine Class C semifinals with a 43-37 victory over St. Dominic Academy February 19, but the win didn't come easy.

It could have been a case of over confidence, or first round jitters that stunted Boothbay's game in the first half, but the eighth-seeded Saints disrupted the Lady Seahawks’ offense and kept the ball out of the hands of Boothbay’s power forwards, Alex Clarke and Allison Crocker. 

Following a dismal first quarter, St. Dom’s led Boothbay 11-7. 

Then sophomore guard Morgan Crocker (17 points) came off the bench and jump started the offense, scoring eight of Boothbay's 11 points in the second quarter. Crocker's explosive energy helped the Lady Seahawks stay even with the Saints knotting the score at 18 points a piece by the end of second quarter.

The Lady Seahawks emerged from the locker room looking more like the top-seeded team as they regained their form in the second half. Guards Morgan Crocker and Abby McLellan pestered St. Dom's point guard Kelly Pomerleau on the perimeter, as Sarah Caron, Allison Crocker and Alex Clarke grabbed rebounds and created turnovers. 

Morgan Crocker's relentless drives to the hoop, and a three pointer from McLellan boosted Boothbay’s lead to five in the third quarter.

But St. Doms’s aggression never ceased as point guard Pomerleau would pickpocket the Lady Seahawks and score off the fast break. However, Pomerleau’s 15 points weren’t enough to keep St. Dom’s from overtaking Boothbay, even though the Lady Seahawks only led by as much as eight points.  

“I think our shots were just really off in the first half,” McLellan said. “I think our defense eventually helped our offense. We had some good stops on the defensive end that allowed us to pitch it ahead and make better passes.” 

Boothbay (17-2) will now face Waynflete (16-3) in the Western Class C semi-finals at 4 p.m. February 21 in Augusta. Since Waynflete knocked Boothbay out of the semi-finals last year, the Lady Seahawks have been yearning to avenge the loss. 

“We are prepared,” McLellan said with a degree of certainty, as she walked out of the Augusta Civic Center, Wednesday night with her teammates, family and fans close at hand.

Quick recap:

Game Over: Boothbay wins 43-38.

Third Quarter: Boothbay takes the lead 33-28.

Second Quarter: The game is tied up 18-18. Morgan Crocker scored 8 points, jump-starting Boothbay's offense.

First Quarter: Boothbay trails St. Dom's 7-11.

Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
	7	11	15	10	43
	11	7	10	10	38

Pregame:

Tonight the Lady Seahawks (16-2) begin the postseason with a quarterfinal match-up at 8:30 p.m against the Saint Dominic Saints (10-8) at the Augusta Civic Center. Boothbay heads into the state tournament in first place in the Western Class C Conference, and will try to advance to the next round of the state basketball tournament where they could face Dirigo or Waynflete, two potentially dangerous teams.

But first the Lady Seahawks must focus their attention on St. Dominic Academy, a team Boothbay defeated 51-36 on January 29.

The last time the Lady Seahawks entered the state tournament as the No. 1 seed was 1984. That year they would win the state championship over Central Aroostook.

This year with Coach Tanner Grover at the helm the Lady Seahawks have improved their record from 12-6 in 2011-2012 to 16-2 under the first year head coach.

Before the start of this season Grover said: “I know that expectations are pretty high, but no one's expectations are higher than my own.”

Those expectations included bringing a second state title to Boothbay and tonight marks the next phase of attaining that goal.