AUGUSTA — A year ago, the Maranacook girls’ playoff hopes flamed out in a semifinal loss to Carrabec.

Friday, the more experienced and confident Black Bears left little doubt. Maranacook burst into its Western Class C semifinal with tenacity and purpose and quickly overwhelmed Mountain Valley in a 64-29 win.

“Last year was the first year we had made it here,” senior forward Christine Miller said. “It was the first year all of us had played on this floor together. There was a lot of nerves. This year, we’re more comfortable, and we have a lot of seniors on the team. We just kept our composure.”

Maranacook advances to the Western C final Saturday night to face Dirigo.

“This is my first semifinal win and theirs as well for quite a while,” Maranacook coach Jeannine Paradis said. “The Maranacook girls have never won a regional title. To be in this game with this group of kids is remarkable. I can’t say enough about these young ladies. They’ve worked hard for four years, most of them, and they deserve to be in that game.”

Maranacook (17-3) swarmed Mountain Valley (15-6) from the open tip and used a smothering press that helped produce an early 16-3 lead. The Falcons never recovered.

“I think it helped us a lot that we came out and really stepped on it right from the beginning,” Miller said. “We didn’t let them have a chance to think that they were in the game.”

The Falcons shot 1-for-9 in the first quarter and had 12 turnovers. Mountain Valley finished with nearly 30 turnovers and never mounted an offensive challenge. It was just the fourth semifinal game ever for the Falcons. The others were in Class B. Mountain Valley has never won a semifinal.

“I’m proud of my girls,” Mountain Valley coach Ryan Casey said. “They fought right until the end. We told them in the locker room that no matter how good your coaching staff is, you can’t teach that kind of heart. We can work on the X’s and O’s and we’ll have a great summer. We’ll come back stronger. The fact that they played with the heart that played with down the stretch makes me awful proud of them.”

Miller led all scorers with 21 while Elizabeth D’Angelo added 13 and Sarah Clough had 10. The Black Bears also got six each from Catherine Sanborn and Sage Hyland..

“We talk about taking pressure off Christine to make it harder for teams to guard her and us,” Paradis said. “When we have more kids that are able to put those numbers up, it makes it tough.”

The Falcons got eight from Karen Flaherty and six from Liza White. Mountain Valley has just two seniors and a promising young club that made great strides despite the disappointing ending.

“We’ve been watching what Maranacook has done the last few seasons,” Casey said. “We scrimmaged them the last three years in the preseason. We’re kind of looking at them and feel like that’s what we want to be in a couple of years — that team that’s full of seniors that’s very good. We know where we want to get to. We’ve taken some good steps this year to get there.”

After a strong opening quarter in the quarterfinal against Old Orchard, the Falcons struggled against the Black Bear press. Mountain Valley struggled to maintain possession and couldn’t execute much offensively. Meanwhile, Maranacook opened a quick 6-0 lead and were up by 13 by quarter’s end.

“We work very hard on press breakers,” Casey said. “It’s hard to replicate a senior press like that. We did the right things in practice. I thought the girls knew what they needed to do but their nerves got the best of them early on. Maranacook had a great killer instinct. They came at us.”

A three-point play by White was the only scoring for the Falcons in the first quarter. Then the Black Bears opened the second with a 9-3 run. Miller had a pair of baskets while Clough hit a 3. Flaherty hit a 3 for the Falcons and Emily Billings scored, but Maranacook extended the lead to 29-11 at halftime. Mountain Valley shot just 2-for-6 in the second with seven turnovers.

“The kids have been doing it for several years,” Paradis said of her’s teams press. “So I know when it comes down to getting it done, they’re going to be all over the floor.”

The lead was up to 40-22 after three. Then the Black Bears finished it off with a 13 straight points and a 17-1 surge to open the fourth. Miller had nine in that quarter. The Falcons had just a 3 from Flaherty and a basket by Grace Briggs. The Falcons hit just four field goals in the second half.

The win sets up a potentially exciting regional final between the Black Bears and Dirigo. It will match Miller, the two-time KVAC Player of the Year against Dirigo’s Jessica Conant, the MVC’s top player.

“I remember (Dirigo coach) Karen (Magnusson) as a player playing against me when I was coaching at Mt. Blue,” Paradis said. “I always liked her tenacity and her competitive spirit. That hasn’t changed even on the sidelines. So I expect her girls to come at us and we’ll go at them. Hopefully, we’ll have a lot of fun.”

kmills@sunjournal.com