BANGOR – Take away a few differences and the Penquis and George Stevens Academy girls basketball teams are quite similar. Both like to press. Both like to shoot. Both feature quick, small, high-scoring guards and forwards.

But it was the differences that helped the No. 2 Eagles of Blue Hill earn a 61-42 victory over the No. 3 Patriots of Milo in Friday’s Eastern Maine Class C semifinal at the Bangor Auditorium.

GSA, now 18-2, will face the winner of Friday night’s contest between No. 1 Calais and No. 5 Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln at 7:05 p.m. Saturday for the Eastern Maine title. Penquis finishes at 15-5.

While the teams finished with similar numbers – the Eagles had 29 turnovers to the Patriots’ 28 and GSA outrebounded Penquis 29-28. The difference was shooting percentage.

For GSA, Lora Trenkle went 8-for-12 from the floor and scored a game-high 20 points and had six assists. Mandi Allen hit six of her nine attempts en route to 16 points. Substitute center Michala Bunten made three of her six field goal attempts.

As a team the Eagles shot 52.3 percent (22 for 42) while the Patriots went 18 for 52 (35 percent).

But it was Penquis that shot well in the first quarter, led by as a many as four points, and had a 16-15 advantage at the end of the period thanks to a Crystal Cail putback at the buzzer.

After a Jamie Wood shot gave GSA the lead to open the second quarter, April Allen and Lillian Gerrish scored two baskets in a row to put Penquis up 20-19. But the Eagles held the Pats to one field goal in the final 6:43 of the quarter while George Stevens went on a 13-4 run for a 34-24 lead at halftime.

“We wanted to try to slow them down, which at one point they got running on us there at the end of the second quarter,” Penquis coach Wally Russell said. “We wanted to be patient on offense and limit them to one shot.”

Russell’s daughter, Megan, scored seven of her 14 points in the first half.

“I think we learned as the game progressed that you can’t leave [Megan Russell] open and let her shoot her shots,” Trenkle said. “I know I had to stay on her and I couldn’t play helpside defense.”

Penquis’ April Allen finished with 13 points.

Eagles 61, Patriots 42

Penquis girls (15-5) George Stevens (18-2)

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

Russell 6 8 0 0 14 Clapp 0 0 0 0 0

L. Hamlin 1 3 0 0 2 N. Allen 2 8 5 6 10

L. Gerrish 0 5 0 0 0 M. Allen 6 9 4 4 14

Allen 5 14 2 2 13 Rioux 0 0 0 0 0

B. Hamlin 0 0 0 0 0 Ashe 2 3 0 0 4

A. Gerrish 3 12 1 2 7 Wood 1 3 2 2 4

White 0 0 0 0 0 K. Horton 0 1 0 0 0

Cail 1 4 0 0 2 Trenkle 8 12 3 5 20

Bailey 1 4 0 0 2 Driscoll 0 0 0 0 0

Robinson 1 3 0 2 2 J. Horton 0 0 0 0 0

J. Hamlin 0 0 0 2 0 Bunten 3 6 1 5 7

Jenkins 0 1 0 0 0

Totals 18 52 3 8 42 Totals 22 42 15 22 61

Penquis 16 24 36 42

George Stevens Academy 15 34 46 61

3-pt. goals: Penquis (3-6): Russell 2-3, Allen 1-2, L. Gerrish 0-1; George Stevens Academy (2-5): N. Allen 1-4, Trenkle 1-1