PORTLAND — Tough, tenacious defense and a willingness to take a foul or two in order to establish a physical presence was a risky move for the Poland Knights.

So was playing a man-to-man defense they’d only recently installed.

But those moves have allowed the junior-dominated team to advance to the Western Class B semifinals.

Nathalie Theriault took over the game when the Knights needed her most, scoring nine of her 14 points in the fourth quarter, and the Poland defense confounded Wells all game long to help drive the No. 7 Knights to a 37-30 win over the No. 2 Warriors at the Portland Expo on Tuesday.

“Pressure today,” Poland coach Mike Susi said. “It was all about pressure. We typically have played zone all year, because we’re small, we’re tiny.”

The teams had played just two weeks ago, with Wells earning a win by an identical 37-30 margin. Late in that game, Susi had an idea.

“We felt after the first time we played them, we could really pressure them,” Susi said. “We ended up having to play man defense (the last game), and that bothered them. So I figured if we could do that on the big court, that we’d really gas them.”

The move stymied the Warriors early, and allowed the Knights to establish their physical presence.

“It was a good adjustment,” Wells coach Don Abbott said. “We’d seen them several times, and we’d played them two weeks ago. Everything they’d put on film was mostly zone-zone-zone, and that’s what we’d practiced against for most of the week. It’s not that you don’t know how to play against a man, but I think we were a little disjointed to start. I thought it was a great adjustment by (Susi), and it was a good call because we hadn’t seen them play a lick of man all year.”

Meanwhile, Theriault had been her normal, pesky, distribute-the-ball self for most of the Tuesday matinee, even hitting a key 3-pointer in the second quarter. But in the fourth, she shined.

“She came alive late, big time,” Susi said. “That was a by-product, too, of the girls trusting each other, and being in the right spots. She got a couple of steals late that led to a couple of runouts, a couple of offensive rebounds, and we fed off of that.”

Enjoying a distinct height advantage, Wells tried to push the pace early, but kept running into the Poland defenders down low. The Knights stood their ground, took a couple of charges and also a couple of fouls while trying to take charges. But it worked, and the Warriors backed off trying to drive hard to the inside for most of the remainder of the first half.

At the other end, Sarah Moody was a presence early in the first for the Knights, putting up five quick points. Theriault took over in the second, commanding the floor while also adding five more in the low-scoring affair.

The Poland defense held the Warriors to just three points in the second quarter — a long 3-pointer from Mackenzie Foss 1:50 into the frame. Wells went without a point for the final 6:10.

Wells went on a 7-2 run to start the third quarter with an up-tempo shift. Schneider had two of those quick baskets. The Warriors continued to push the pace, and finally started to see some shots fall from underneath. In all, Wells, behind 10 from Schneider, outscored Poland 13-5 in the third and pulled ahead for the first time in the game, 22-21.

“We just started playing a little more relaxed,” Abbott said. “We were making shots, which helps. But credit them, they answered that counterpunch in the fourth.”

To wit, Moody drilled a 3-pointer on the first possession of the fourth quarter to give Poland the lead back, a lead the Knights never relinquished.

“This is our third trip here, and most of our girls who are starting, most of the girls on the team are juniors,” Susi said. “I don’t think they wanted to be denied.”

Morgan Brousseau added six points in the fourth to go with Theriault’s nine, while the Knights’ defense held Wells to only eight total in the final frame, and only two field goals.

No. 7 Poland advances to the Class B South semifinals, where it will face No. 6 Lincoln Academy, which ousted No. 3 Mountain Valley in the first game of the day in Portland.