BANGOR – There’s no better time for a team to find its offensive rhythm and play stifling defense than when it sets foot on the Bangor Auditorium hardwood.

The timing couldn’t have been better for the No. 5 Greenville Lakers in their 46-40 Eastern Maine Class D girls basketball quarterfinal win over the No. 4 Ashland Hornets on Monday night.

Greenville, 16-2, advanced to an 8:35 p.m. Thursday semifinal against No. 1 Woodland, a 62-27 winner over Fort Fairfield. Ashland finished at 15-5.

Senior center Beth Bartley put the Lakers on her shoulders, scoring a game-high 20 points, pulling down 14 rebounds and blocking five shots.

“We started out in zone but we realized early that wasn’t going to work,” said coach Woodie Bartley. “Our seniors came up big, this is their time and they showed it.”

Senior Darla Larsen tossed in 12 points, but it was the defensive effort along side sophomore Brittany Boucher and junior Hannah Breton that turned the tide early.

Ashland held a 6-4 lead three minutes into the game, but after switching from zone to man-to-man defense, Greenville went on a 9-2 run to finish the first quarter behind five points from Larsen.

“Darla had the best game offensively she’s had all season,” said coach Bartley. “Defense is her specialty and her offense was a big plus.”

Breton, who did not play in Greenville’s preliminary-round game against Van Buren after rolling her ankle in practice the night before, was questionable coming into the game.

“We weren’t sure how good she was going to be coming off the injury,” said coach Bartley. “But she has boundless energy, she had as good a game as we could hope for.”

The Laker guards were able to frustrate Ashland’s big guns, Ashley Nemer and Whitney Flint, with Bartley and senior Elisa Gary controlling the boards.

“We knew Nemer was a great outside shooter and guarding the 3-point line was a big focus for us tonight,” said Beth Bartley. “We knew we had a height advantage and our man defense worked great.”

Nemer and Flint finished with 10 points apiece and Greenville’s Gary corralled eight rebounds.

“I give them a lot of credit,” said Ashland coach Bill Nemer. “They didn’t play a very tough schedule during the season, but that is a great ball club.”

The Hornets pulled within 10 on a Flint 3-pointer with 2:31 remaining. After forcing two turnovers, Angela Belskis hit a layup and Nemer converted a layup of her own after stealing the inbound pass to pull within six with 45 seconds remaining.

“We’re peaking at the right time,” said Bartley. “But I hope we haven’t peaked yet.”

In Monday’s late game, Woodland jumped out to an 8-0 lead midway through the first quarter and cruised to victory.

The 17-1 Dragons combined defensive pressure that forced 31 Fort Fairfield turnovers with the talented inside tandem of 5-foot-10 senior Michelle Ferry and 5-foot-11 sophomore Courtney Cochran.

Ferry scored a game-high 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds. She scored 10 points in the second quarter as Woodland moved out to a 27-15 halftime lead.

Cochran finished with 18 points to go with 14 rebounds, with her 10 third-quarter points helping the Dragons extend their advantage to 48-20.

That duo was particularly effective working together in the lane, Cochran at the high post and Ferry nearer the basket.

“Me and Michelle have a real good relationship and can read each other pretty well,” Cochran said.

Woodland’s defensive pressure was keyed by guards Lacey Gillespie and Rachel Torrey, who combined for 15 points and six steals.

Fort Fairfield (14-6) did stay within five points twice midway through the second quarter, the last time at 15-10 on a 3-pointer by Kerri Cunningham.

But Woodland scored the next 12 points, a run sparked by a Ferry 3-pointer, to push its lead to 27-10.

Fort Fairfield scored the final five points of the half on a 3-pointer by Meryl Shaw and a follow-up basket by Cunningham, but a run of 19 unanswered points by Woodland in the third quarter put the game away.

Hathaway finished with a team-high seven points for Fort Fairfield, while Cunningham scored six. Sheena Esancy pulled down seven rebounds for the Tigers.

LAKERS 46, HORNETS 40

Greenville (16-2) Ashland (15-5)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Gilbert 1 3 0 0 2 Belskis 3 8 6

Boucher 1 3 1 4 3 Chasse 1 3 3

Larson 5 11 0 3 12 Flint 3 9 10

Bartley 9 18 2 6 20 Nemer 4 18 10

Gary 1 7 1 1 3 D. Long 3 7 0 6

Breton 3 10 0 3 6 Poulin 2 2 5

M. Long 0 0 0 0

Totals 20 52 4 17 46 Totals 16 47 12 40

Greenville 13 24 35 46

Ashland 8 18 24 40

3-pt. goals – (Greenville 2-7): Larson 2-5, Boucher 0-1, Bartley 0-1; (Ashland: 5-15): Flint 2-7, Nemer 2-7, Poulin 1-1

DRAGONS 62, TIGERS 27

Fort Fairfield (14-6) Woodland (17-1)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Shaw 2 4 0 0 5 Mitchell 0 0 0

Forsman 0 0 0 0 0 Clark 0 5 0

Hathaway 3 6 0 0 7 Gillespie 3 6

Cnninghm 2 10 1 2 6 Ham 0 0 0

McLaughlin 1 3 0 0 2 Torrey 3 14 9

C. Esancy 0 3 1 2 1 Brown 0 0 0

S. Esancy 1 7 0 0 2 Ferry 10 17 24

Blaisdell 0 0 0 0 0 Nicholas 0 0

Chasse 0 1 0 0 0 Cochran 7 16 18

Beckwith 1 8 2 4 4 Bergin 1 4 4

McNamee 0 0 0 0 0 Parks 0 0 0

Murphy 0 1 1 1

Totals 10 42 4 8 27 Totals 24 69 12 18 62

Fort Fairfield 5 15 20 27

Woodland 10 27 48 62

3-pt. goals – Fort Fairfield (3-9): Shaw 1-1, Hathaway 1-3, Cunningham 1-5; Woodland (2-4): Ferry 2-3, Torrey 0-1