BANGOR – Van Buren senior Denise Marquis hasn’t had the easiest time shooting free throws in her basketball career. And it didn’t get any easier in the first three quarters of Tuesday’s quarterfinal game between the No. 4 Crusaders and No. 5 Southern Aroostook of Dyer Brook.

But Marquis hit four free throws in a row to ice a 61-54 victory and lift the Crusaders to the Eastern Maine Class D semifinals.

Van Buren, now 16-2, will face No. 1 Woodland, a 60-43 winner over No. 8 East Grand in Tuesday’s other quarterfinal. The Dragons are now 17-2.

The Warriors close their season at 13-6. East Grand falls to 10-9.

Southern Aroostook had a 48-47 advantage at the start of the fourth quarter but Van Buren’s Kristi Wright hit two 3-pointers and the Crusaders retook the lead.

Later in the fourth, Southern Aroostook’s Nicki Lyons connected on a long 2-pointer with 3:35 left to get her team within two points, but it would be the Warriors’ last field goal. Wright scored off a pass from Nicole Corbin with 1:09 left and Corbin notched a steal in the Crusaders’ backcourt with 17 seconds left.

“We shot well in the first half but had a little trouble with their pressure in the third and fourth quarter, which kind of turned the momentum around,” SAHS coach Jon Porter said.

Marquis made both ends of a 1-and-1 and hit another two free throws in the final 23 seconds. She made just one of her six attempts in the first half and went 5-for-13 overall.

“I saw all my teammates there, I thought about my form, and I thought, `OK, I know what I have to do,’ ” Marquis said.

Van Buren had a 21-14 lead at the end of the first quarter but Southern Aroostook took advantage of some key offensive rebounds for a 14-2 run in the second quarter.

“The reason why were down so much was because we were struggling with rebounds,” Marquis said. “We’d get the ball, we’d drop it. It was like we had butterfingers.”

Marquis scored a game-high 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Wright added 14 points and Corbin scored 10.

Kristi Brooker led the Warriors with 17 points. Janelle Tarr recorded seven rebounds.

In the afternoon game, Woodland played its stellar full-court press but struggled offensively in the first half.

“They came out with a lot of intensity and they had nothing to lose,” said Ashley Marble, who scored 12 of her game-high 19 points in the second half. “I don’t know what it was. Foul shots weren’t falling, it was ugly for all of us. But we just stuck together.”

Woodland forced 28 turnovers, including nine on Marble steals. But the Dragons committed 29 turnovers themselves.

Woodland also had a typically well-rounded offensive effort. Jessica Noyes tallied 15 points and Bonnie Smith scored 14 in addition to her 10 rebounds.

That balance led to a typical predicament for the opposition.

“We were in a 2-3 zone and went to a triangle-and-2 [on Marble and Smith] in the third quarter,” Hamilton said. “But Jessica Noyes made a shot, Michaelene Seavey made a couple of shots, so that made it really difficult for us.”

Woodland led the entire game, but the Vikings did get within three points during the second quarter. Down 16-10, Lindsay Faulkner banked in a jump shot 15 seconds into the quarter and Amanda Godley followed with another jumper. Faulkner hit a free throw to cut it to 16-13 with 4:17 left in the half, but Smith scored on a layup and put back a shot on the next possession to extend the lead again.

Godley finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Crusaders 61, Warriors 54

So. Aroostook (13-6) Van Buren girls (16-2)

Name G AG F AF TP Name G AG F AF TP

Lyons 4 14 0 0 9 Wright 6 18 0 0 14

Brooker 7 14 1 2 17 L. Gagnon 2 6 0 0 4

Chambers 4 8 1 3 9 Corbin 4 16 1 2 10

Tarr 2 9 1 2 5 H. Parent 3 9 0 0 6

Edkins 3 11 0 2 8 Marquis 10 16 5 13 25

Dickinson 2 5 0 0 4 Sirois 0 1 0 0 0

Green 1 4 0 0 2 D. Gagnon 1 4 0 0 2

Totals 23 65 3 9 54 Totals 26 70 6 15 61

Southern Aroostook 14 35 45 54

Van Buren 21 25 44 61

3-pt. goals: Southern Aroostook (5-14): Brooker 2-3, Edkins 2-7, Lyons 1-4; Van Buren (3-12): Wright 2-7, Corbin 1-4, H. Parent 0-1

Dragons 60, Vikings 43

East Grand (10-9) Woodland girls (17-2)

Name G AG F AF TP Name G AG F AF TP

Parker 1 4 0 2 2 Marble 9 18 1 6 19

Whitney 3 9 0 0 7 Williams 1 3 0 0 2

Faulkner 2 6 5 9 9 Huwa 0 1 0 3 0

Cropley

Godley 5 13 2 2 12 White 0 0 0 0 0

Hannington 0 0 0 0 0 Noyes 5 11 4 9 15

Page 0 0 0 0 0 Smith 4 8 6 8 14

B. Osnoe 3 4 0 0 6 Knights 1 3 4 8 6

T. Osnoe 0 0 0 0 0 Pottle 0 0 0 0 0

Lawless 0 0 0 0 0

Holmes 0 0 0 2 0

Totals 16 40 8 16 43 Totals 22 51 15 36 60

East Grand 8 18 31 43

Woodland 16 6 45 60

3-pt. goals: East Grand (3-8): Cropley 2-4, Whitney 1-4; Woodland (1-3): Noyes 1-1, Marble 0-2