BANGOR – So much for the seedings.

Fort Kent and Central of Corinth, which split a pair of regular-season games but finished sixth and seventh in the final Eastern Maine Class C girls basketball standings, earned a third meeting in Friday’s regional semifinals with quarterfinal wins Tuesday at the Bangor Auditorium.

Fort Kent shaded No. 3 Washington Academy 56-47, while Central knocked off No. 2 Stearns of Millinocket 54-46.

Fort Kent (13-7) and Central (14-6) will play at 7:05 p.m. Friday.

In the first game, Fort Kent earned its first tourney win in more than a decade by using a 2-3 zone to limit Washington Academy’s inside game and riding a hot third quarter from sophomore Marissa Albert.

That defensive effort limited WA to 26 percent (16 of 63) shooting from the field.

“We wanted to make sure we fronted their posts,” said senior center Kristin Violette, who scored 15 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. “We knew they had big girls, so we started out in man, but then we felt that a 2-3 zone would work better. It seemed to work, and we just made sure to box out and rebound.”

Freshman guard Emily Pelletier (15 points) got Fort Kent off to a quick start with two 3-pointers, but WA rallied despite three early fouls to standout guard Mary Mawhinney to take a 14-8 lead on a followup shot by junior forward Ashley Tilton late in the first quarter.

Fort Kent held Washington Academy to a single basket for the rest of the half, and while the Warriors did not make a basket of their own in the second period, they converted eight free throws to take a 20-16 halftime lead.

Then Albert scored 11 of her game-high 18 points in the third quarter as Fort Kent found its touch – making 9 of 14 shots in the period. The Warriors led by as many 18 points, the first time when Violette capped off a 12-0 run with a basket to give the Warriors a 35-17 lead with 3:20 left in the period.

But WA rallied from long range, making six 3-point goals in the second half, including one by Lauren Finn that pulled the Raiders within 49-47 with 1:12 left in the game.

But soon the foul trouble that plagued WA throughout the game caught up with the comeback bid, as four Raider starters fouled out and Fort Kent made just enough free throws to preserve the lead.

“When we got that 18-point lead, we let up a bit,” said Fort Kent coach Travis Delisle. “We kind of sat on that lead and played not to lose instead of playing to dominate.”

Rushforth finished with 12 points on four 3-pointers for WA, while Tilton had 11 points and 11 rebounds and Kayla Wood scored 10.

In the second game, two earlier losses to Stearns this winter meant something had to change for Central – and it was defense that made the difference.

“Before when we played them I didn’t think we could match up with them man to man,” said Central coach Diane Rollins, “but I went with my gut feeling this time and we matched up pretty well with them.”

The Red Devils used that defense to control most of the game, trailing only early in the first quarter and late in the first half when frontcourt standouts Caitlin Elliott and Teresa Libby sat down with foul trouble.

Stearns shot just 29 percent (13 of 44) from the field.

“We overthought our defense before,” said Elliott, who scored 12 of her team-high 16 points in the first half in helping Central stay within 24-21. “We were thinking ‘what can we do about their outside shooters, what can we do about their post people,’ but we realized man defense was the best way to go and we played great man defense tonight.”

Central gradually took charge in the second half, as Erica Brownell scored six third-quarter points to help the Red Devils gain a 38-31 lead by the end of the period.

Then a freshman did much of the work in the final quarter, as Rachel Trafton (13 points, four steals) scored eight points in the period – six from the line – to prevent Stearns from getting closer than five points.

Trafton’s late contribution symbolized the Red Devils’ solid play late in the season, once they regrouped from a slump after an emotional win over rival Dexter.

“This was about my kids growing up throughout the season,” said Rollins. “They learned how to take care of the basketball. They learned what team was. We became more of a team throughout the season. For a while I never knew who was going to start, but in the last three games of the season we came together.”

Senior guard Dayna Somers led Stearns with 20 points, while junior forward Deanna Michaud had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

WARRIORS 56, RAIDERS 47

Fort Kent (13-7) Wash. Acad. (12-7)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Jandreau 0 1 0 0 0 Govoni 0 9 0

Pelletier 4 11 3 6 15 Rushforth 4 10 0 1 12

Rossignol 1 2 0 1 2 Finn 3 10 9

Perreault 0 0 0 0 0 Mawhiney 1 2

Albert 6 14 5 6 18 Tilton 4 11 11

Hafford 0 3 3 4 3 Wood 3 11 10

Bouchard 0 1 1 2 1 Fritz 0 2 0

Violette 3 7 9 14 15 Look 1 4 3

Charette 1 4 0 0 2

Morneault 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 15 43 21 33 56 Totals 16 63 16 47

Fort Kent 12 20 41 56

Washington Acad. 14 16 28 47

3-pt. goals – Fort Kent (5-15): Pelletier 4-9, Albert 1-5, Jandreau 0-1; Washington Acad. (8-29): Rushforth 4-7, Finn 3-9, Wood 1-6, Govoni 0-5, Fritz 0-1, Mawhinney 0-1

RED DEVILS 54, MINUTEMEN 46

Central (14-6) Stearns (13-6)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Davis 1 5 1 4 4 Michaud 3 12 10

Elliott 5 9 6 6 16 Hale 3 3 7

Brownell 3 7 3 4 9 Moscone 0 0 0

Trafton 2 2 9 17 13 Cllinswrth 0 2

Underhill 0 2 3 7 3 Arsenault 1 2

LeBlanc 2 4 0 2 4 Freeman 0 1 0

Melton 1 2 0 0 2 Achorn 0 1 2

Libby 1 4 1 2 3 Rosebush 0 0

Somers 5 10 7 10 20

MacDonld 1 4 3

Totals 15 35 23 42 54 Totals 13 44 17 27 46

Central 11 21 38 54

Stearns 7 24 31 46

3-pt. goals – Central (1-2): Davis 1-2; Stearns (3-11): Somers 3-4, Achorn 0-1, Arsenault 0-6