BANGOR – In recent years the Southern Aroostook girls basketball team made it to the Eastern Maine Class D tournament with a top-four seed but was unable to reach the regional final.

This year, however, the Warriors of Dyer Brook made good on their No. 2 ranking.

SAHS placed four of its five starters in double figures en route to a 56-41 victory over No. 6 Greater Houlton Christian Academy Thursday night at the Bangor Auditorium.

It will be the Warriors’ first finals appearance since 1997 when they won the regional crown.

Last year SAHS lost in the semifinals and fell in the 2004 quarterfinals despite having the No. 1 seed.

“It’s been a lot of work to get here, then we sometimes seem to get caught up in the moment and can’t go all the way,” said junior Kaylea Collier, who scored 11 points to go with seven assists.

They’ll face the winner of Thursday night’s second semifinal between Woodland and Greenville. The EM final starts at 9:05 a.m. Saturday.

Junior forward Shana Martin led Southern Aroostook with 16 points, but most of her scoring came on short jumpers.

The Eagles played a 2-3 zone in the first half to limit both Martin and fellow forward Audrey Charette (11 points, 13 rebounds).

It fell to the Warriors’ perimeter players to make shots. Although SAHS hit just three 3-pointers, guards like Kaylea Collier drained a couple of long jumpers, enough to pull Greater Houlton Christian out of its zone in the third quarter.

“Some of our girls just didn’t cover the holes [in the zone],” GHCA coach Vaughn Farrar said. “We lost our legs tonight and we just couldn’t match up.”

Collier and senior guard Kelly Clark both finished with 11 points on 5-for-12 shooting.

“Our wing players did a great job,” Martin said. “Everything was falling for them.”

The Warriors were on fire in the fourth quarter, hitting 10 of 13 field goals. Martin was 3-for-4 in the quarter.

“We were pretty excited,” Collier said of the fourth quarter. “The crowd helped. We were just so happy.”

The Eagles made it close in the third quarter.

The Warriors had a 29-18 lead early in the period when Megan Korhonen (22 points) made a 3-pointer from the top of the key, sparking a 9-0 run that made it 29-27. SAHS scored three baskets in a row, but Korhonen ended the quarter with a conventional 3-point play.

WARRIORS 56, EAGLES 41

GHCA (18-3) So. Aroostook (19-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Farrar 2 12 0 0 5 Au.Chrtte 5 11

Livezey 0 2 0 0 0 Collier 5 12 11

Brewer 0 1 0 0 0 Desmond 0 0 0

Jago 2 7 2 2 6 McLghln 3 5 0 7

Korhonen 7 11 3 3 20 Clark 5 12 11

Riopel 1 7 0 0 2 Caswell 0 0 0

Hartin 0 1 0 0 0 B.Chartte 0 0

Burgason 0 1 0 0 0 Martin 8 18 16

Vargas 0 0 0 0 0 Carr 0 0 0

Boutilier 1 5 4 6 6 Am.Chrtte 0 0

Lord 1 5 0 0 2

Totals 14 52 9 11 41 26 56 56

GHCA 7 18 30 41

Southern Aroostook 12 22 35 56

3-pt. goals – Greater Houlton Christian Academy (4-11): Korhonen 3-4, Farrar 1-2, Livezey 0-1, Riopel 0-4; Southern Aroostook (3-12): Collier 1-5, McLaughlin 1-2, Clark 1-5