The Boothbay Region girls’ basketball team held off a late Monmouth Academy rally Thursday and advanced to the Class C South regional final. Boothbay Region led by eight with 2:41 remaining, but Monmouth cut the deficit to two with 1:07 remaining.

The Mustangs got no closer as Seahawk guard Hannah Morley made three of four free throws in the last minute securing Boothbay Region’s 36-34 victory. This was the second meeting of the season between No. 2 Boothbay Region (18-1) and No. 3 Monmouth Academy (17-3). The Mustangs handed the Seahawks their only loss of the season.

Morley said she tried to stay composed as she shot the free throws.

“I think anyone would a little nervous,” Morley said. “I tried staying composed and not let the nerves get into my head.”

Boothbay Region trailed for nearly the entire first half. The Seahawks took a brief lead when guard Faith Blethen scored the game’s first points with a 3-pointer. But the Seahawk offense struggled as the Mustangs built a 19-16 lead at intermission.

A strategy resulted in the Seahawks taking the lead for good in the third quarter. Boothbay Region coach Tanner Grover changed his defense from zone to man-to-man, which stymied Monmouth’s perimeter shooting attack. The tactic worked, as the Seahawks outscored Monmouth 12-1 in the third quarter.

“I was happy how the girls came out in the third quarter,” Grover said. “We controlled the pace better in the second half and got the ball more inside, and took advantage of our size.”

Another strategic adjustment was inserting a smaller line-up. Seahawk guard Sydney Meader played significant minutes in both halves. Defensively, she matched up well against Monmouth’s guards. On offensive, Meader supplied two keys plays in extending the Seahawks’ third quarter lead.

Meader connected on a 3-point shot with 2:05 remaining in the quarter, which increased Boothbay’s lead to five. The Seahawks ended the quarter with an eight-point lead thanks to an tremendous assist by Meader.

Playing for the last shot, Meader made a cross-court diagonal pass to Brown who scored and was fouled. Brown’s basket and free throw ended the quarter with Boothbay Region leading 28-20.

Grover inserted a smaller lineup early in the first half to contend with Monmouth’s quick, sharpshooting guards.

“Sydney is a good shooter and ball handler,” he said. “They (Monmouth) are a guard-oriented team and she is a good offensive player and better match-up for us on defense.”

Boothbay Region will play No. 4 Madison (13-7)  for the regional championship. Last year, it was the Bulldogs, who entered last year’s tournament as the No. 8 seed that eliminated Boothbay Region in the quarterfinals. The Seahawks entered this season with the goal of advancing deep into this year’s tournament.

“From the beginning, we hoped to get here,” Morley said. “We knew with all the success we had in the regular season we could get to this point.”

Blethen led all scorers with 15 points. Boothbay also got scoring from Brown (7), Morley (5), Kate Friant (4), Meader (3) and Nicole Clarke (2).

Monmouth was led by Tia Day and Haley West with nine points each, followed by Abbey Allen and Sidney Wilson with eight points each.

The Class C girls South regional championship game is at 7:05 p.m. on Saturday at the Augusta Civic Center.