BANGOR – It had been seven years since the No. 5 Rockland girls basketball team had played an Eastern Maine tournament game at the Bangor Auditorium, but at least one thing was familiar as the Tigers stepped onto the court for a Class B quarterfinal Saturday morning: their opponent.

Rockland knew just what to expect from No. 4 Belfast, a rival in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference with which the Tigers had split two regular-season games.

The Tigers knew they had to tie up Belfast’s shooters and keep the Lions off the boards, and they managed to do that. Rockland got 13 points apiece from Annie Pennell and Anna Hurley en route to a 61-44 victory over the Lions.

Rockland, now 13-6, earned a semifinal berth against No. 1 MDI, which got a huge game from senior star Bracey Barker in an 80-39 victory over No. 8 Fort Kent in Saturday afternoon’s quarterfinal.

The Tigers and 18-1 Trojans play Wednesday at 7:05 p.m.

Long-range shooting was on display Saturday, as Belfast broke the Class B record for team 3-pointers in a game with eight, and MDI shattered that a few hours later with nine.

In the morning game, the Lions had trouble scoring around the basket in the first quarter, and that led to a 20-7 Rockland lead at the end of the period. Pennell scored nine points and the Tigers held Belfast scoreless until Kaitlyn Murphy made a free throw with 3:49 left in the first.

“We feel like the first four minutes of each half predict the game, so we try to work hard then,” Pennell said. “We know Belfast can come back just like that, so we tried to keep a lead as long as we could.”

Rockland’s 3-2 zone helped limit Belfast to 16-for-59 shooting overall. The Tigers’ press forced 17 turnovers.

“I think they had a big first quarter, but we missed a lot of shots,” Belfast coach Ted Rioux said. “I think it comes down to that. … You just watch the game and it was almost like grinding to get the first basket.”

Belfast cut Rockland’s lead to 35-27 after a 3-pointer from Ashley Bryant (13 points), but Pennell made a layup and Caitlyn Grant made a free throw to push it back to an 11-point edge.

Murphy had a game-high 14 rebounds, but the Lions scored just two baskets off offensive rebounds.

“We knew we had to front them and rebound because they get a lot of points from rebounds,” Pennell said. “We just figured we had to get all the rebounds we could and get a body on somebody.”

Caitlin Hynes and Grant each had 12 points for Rockland. Danielle Mayer led Belfast with 16 points.

In the afternoon game, Fort Kent coach Travis Delisle knew exactly what to expect, too: pressure defense. The Trojans’ zone press forced 10 turnovers in the first quarter.

“We may not have shown it, but we really worked on it,” Delisle said. “We knew the type of zone they were going to play, the 1-2-2, and we felt confident that our ballhandlers McKenzie [Boucher] and Meagan [Minzy] would handle it a little bit. Unfortunately [MDI is] at a caliber we’re not.”

The Warriors ran a mix of man defense and a 2-3 zone, but the Trojans are used to just about everything that gets thrown at them. Especially 6-foot-1 point guard Barker, who racked up 28 points, 13 rebounds, five steals, four assists, two blocks, with only two turnovers.

Barker and the other MDI starters didn’t play the whole game as the Trojans ran out to an 18-5 lead in the first quarter and outscored the Warriors 27-10 in the second.

MDI’s lone flaw, according to Barker?

“I think we did well on defense overall, but we just had too many silly fouls,” she said of the Trojans’ eight fouls in the first quarter.

MDI burned Fort Kent from the perimeter. Jessica Norwood went 4-for-9 from 3-point range, Barker was 2-for-3, Shelley Gott went 2-for-5, and Amanda Young hit a 3-pointer as well.

MDI also had a huge 53-31 rebounding advantage. Twenty of those rebounds came on the offensive end.

Gott and Norwood each scored 14 points. Gott had eight rebounds. Boucher led Fort Kent with 11 points, five rebounds, and three steals.

TIGERS 61, LIONS 44

Rockland (13-6) Belfast (14-5)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Pennell 5 9 3 5 13 Evans 0 0 0

Grant 3 7 3 8 12 Nickerson 0 0

Hurley 5 10 0 0 13 Bryant 4 17 13

Felt 0 3 8 10 8 Mayer 6 16 1 16

J. Clark 0 1 0 0 0 Groening 0 0

Dunton 0 0 0 0 0 Brown 0 0 0

Barnes 1 9 1 2 3 Ross 1 3 2

Hynes 5 13 2 6 12 Murphy 1 7 3

Ellis 2 5 0 6

Bailey 1 2 0 2

Mehuren 1 5 0 2

Totals 19 52 17 31 61 Totals 16 59 15 44

Rockland 20 33 41 61

Belfast 7 19 29 44

3-pt. goals ? Rockland (6-10): Grant 3-4, Hurley 3-6; Belfast (8-19): Mayer 3-6, Bryant 3-8, Ellis 2-4, Ro

TROJANS 80, WARRIORS 39

Fort Kent (10-10) MDI (18-1)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Labbe 0 2 0 0 0 Stanley 0 2 0

Levesque 1 1 0 0 2 Gordius 4 9 8

Pelletier 0 1 0 0 0 McGarr 0 0 0

Minzy 2 4 1 4 6 Joy 1 2 2

Desjardins 2 7 1 2 6 Horton 2 7 4

Daigle 0 2 0 0 0 Shuster 0 0 0

Mi. Mrneault 2 5 0 2 5 Gott 6 12 14

Violette 1 6 0 0 2 Barker 12 20 28

Michaud 0 0 0 0 0 Young 2 5 6

Me. Mrneault 1 2 0 0 3 Christie 1 2

Saucier 0 4 2 4 2 Norwood 5 14 14

Boucher 4 13 3 4 11 Banks 0 1 2

Hartman 1 4 0 0 2 Dow 0 0 0

Totals 14 51 7 16 39 Totals 33 73 12 80

Fort Kent 5 15 29 39

MDI 18 45 62 80

3-pt. goals ? Fort Kent (4-11): Mi. Morneault 1-1, Minzy 1-2, Desjardins 1-2, Me. Morneault 1-2, Pelletier 0-1, Boucher 0-3; MDI (9-23): Norwood 4-9, Barker 2-3, Gott 2-5, Young 1-2, Gordius 0-1, Horton 0-3