BANGOR – While the Maranancook girls were keeping an eye out for their top matchups, Houlton senior Sarah Beasley made the most of her opportunity Friday afternoon in the opener of the 2002 Eastern Maine basketball tournament at the Bangor Auditorium.

Beasley, a 5-foot-10 forward, poured in a career-high 31 points and carried the Shiretowners to a 55-45 victory over the Black Bears of Readfield in a Class B girls regional crossover matchup.

Houlton (16-4), the No. 2 seed in the Northeastern region, will face Southeastern No. 1 Winslow, which was a 53-37 winner over Ellsworth in Friday evening’s quarterfinal. They will play their semifinal Wednesday at 2:05 p.m.

Maranacook, No. 3 in the Southeastern region, finishes at 14-6. Ellsworth, the Northeastern No. 4, closes with an 11-9 record.

Beasley scored 18 in the first half, went 14-for-25 from the field overall (56 percent), and had five rebounds and five steals.

“She had a fantastic game,” Houlton coach Jerry Tweedie said. “What more can you ask for, here at the Auditorium, than having a great game like that? She did everything for us.”

Beasley’s offensive output was especially important as Maranacook focused its man defense on guards Hannah Socoby and Kasey Cleary. Also, Socoby suffered a foot injury Wednesday (Tweedie said he was unsure if she would play at all). Both girls had solid games of their own, but it was Beasley who undid the Bears.

“We knew what their personnel was going to be but we just plain ol’ didn’t have an answer for Beasley,” Maranacook coach Mike Packard said. “I was pleased that we did a good job on Socoby … and we didn’t quit. We just kept coming and coming.”

Kasie Mason (19 points) helped the Bears get back into the game in the second half and especially in the fourth quarter. Houlton had a 12-point lead with 4:40 left when Erica Brennan converted a conventional three-point play for Maranacook, and Mason scored two uncontested baskets in transition to make it 50-45 with 3:18 to go.

“We had a few people left open,” said Beasley, who hit a jumper to end Maranacook’s run. “We tried pressing and we were getting beat on that.”

Beasley, Katherine Cole and Socoby were on the bottom of Houlton’s 2-3 zone meant to stop 5-11 center Brennan (eight points, 11 rebounds) from getting easy shots.

Cleary scored 10 points while the 5-5 Socoby had seven points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots.

In the evening game, the Black Raiders, who excel at a fast-tempo game, ran over the Eagles early.

Winslow freshman Sarah Roderigue made her Bangor Auditorium debut and was impressive, scoring a team-high 14 points.

The Raiders looked sharp early, forcing 16 first-half turnovers and rolling out to a 27-11 lead. But the Eagles, thanks to improved ball-handling and Jodie Merchant’s offensive effort, made a run at the Raiders in the second half.

Merchant, who averaged about 10 points per game in the regular season, scored nine of her game-high 20 points in the third quarter, including three straight baskets that cut Winslow’s lead to 31-23.

“Nobody else could really get anything going,” Ellsworth coach Drew Myers said.

The taller Eagles rebounded well and cut down on turnovers in the second half, which made it harder for Winslow to control the pace.

No big deal, Roderigue said.

“We had to slow down our offense and execute it,” she said. “But we went over that in practice so it wasn’t that difficult.”

The Eagles opened the game in a 2-3 zone, while the Raiders started and stayed in their man defense.

“We wanted to make it a half-court game,” Myers said. “[The zone] worked but I think we got a little tired in the first half and they got a couple of easy looks on us because we got tired.”

Merchant hit the first basket of the game, but Winslow reeled off a 10-0 run in the first quarter and outscored the Eagles 17-9 in the second. Ellsworth went 4-for-18 from the field in the first half.

Stopping Merchant was part of Winslow’s game plan, Roderigue said. The Raiders didn’t really do that, but it may not have mattered. The other Ellsworth player Winslow keyed on was guard May Chan, and she had just four points.

Senior Bethany Roderigue, Sarah’s sister, scored 10 points and had a team-high six rebounds. Point guard Katie Flaherty chipped in with 11 points.

SHIRETOWNERS 55, BLACK BEARS 45

Maranacook (14-6) Houlton girls (16-4)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Hanson 1 1 0 0 2 Beasley 14 25 31

Ka. Mason 9 13 0 0 19 Cleary 4 10 10

Denbow 0 0 0 0 0 Goodrich 1 3

Bardaglio 5 8 0 0 10 Brown 0 1 0

Edwards 0 2 0 0 0 Cole 2 3 4

Martin 2 13 0 0 5 Socoby 1 4 7

Leary 0 0 0 0 0 Botting 0 1 0

Brennan 4 12 1 1 9

Totals 21 49 1 1 45 22 50 13 55

Maranacook 12 20 34 45

Houlton 16 30 39 55

3-pt. goals: Maranacook (2-7): Ka. Mason 1-1, Martin 1-6; Houlton (3-12): Cleary 2-7, Goodrich 1-3

BLACK RAIDERS 53, EAGLES 37

Ellsworth girls (11-9) Winslow (19-0)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Eaton 0 0 0 0 0 Flaherty 4 11

Chan 2 7 0 0 4 LaPointe 4 6 8

Silsby 1 4 2 2 4 Morin 0 0 0

Kimball 1 1 0 0 2 Byrne 1 5 4

Patten 1 1 0 0 2 Peters 0 0 0

Collins 1 3 0 0 2 Bickford 2 6

Merchant 9 21 2 4 20 Murray 0 0 0

Pelletier 0 0 0 0 0 S. Roderigue 4 10 6 13 14

Bickford 0 0 0 0 0 B. Roderigue 4 11 1 3 10

Oleson 1 4 1 3 3 McClarie 0 0

Page 0 0 0 0 0

Tripp 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 16 41 5 9 37 Totals 19 45 14 26 53

Ellsworth 2 11 25 37

Winslow 10 27 36 53

3-pt. goals: Ellsworth (0-4): Chan 0-2, Merchant 0-2; Winslow (1-3): B. Roderigue 1-2, S. Roderigue 0-1