BANGOR – Central’s balanced scoring attack and solid perimeter defense proved to be too much for Fort Kent as the No. 7 Red Devils rolled past the No. 6 Warriors 42-27 Friday night in an Eastern Maine Class C basketball semifinal.

Central of East Corinth improves to 15-6 and will face the top-seeded and 19-1 Dexter Tigers at 7:05 Saturday night. Dexter’s lone loss came at the hands of the Red Devils. The Fort Kent Warriors finish at 13-8.

Junior guard MacKenzie Davis led the balanced Red Devils with 10 points and senior Traci Underhill tallied eight points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals.

“Teams can shut down one person but they can’t shut down five people,” said Central head coach Diane Rollins. “They have to play honestly and they can’t double you.”

Central senior forward Caitlin Elliott notched seven points, gathered six rebounds and two steals.

“We played together really well today,” said Elliott. “We’re coming together and growing up as a team.”

Senior forward Teresa Libby pulled down seven boards and dished out five assists for the winners.

“We had played them twice and knew what they were going to try and do,” said Rollins. “We knew we had to shut down their 3-point shooters.”

The Warriors main 3-point threat, freshman Emily Pelletier, was held to only two points which came on a long jumper in the final minute of the second half.

Fort Kent senior center Kristin Violette paced the Warriors with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

“We realized they try to go to Violette every possession so we knew we had to take her out of it as much as possible,” said Elliott. “Even on the press, we just stayed in her face and tried to keep her from getting the ball to the guards.”

Sophomore guard Marissa Albert added seven points for Fort Kent, all in the first half.

The Red Devils held a 37-31 edge rebounding and caused 15 turnovers.

“We had the lead, maintained it and really just slowed the game down and moved the ball around,” said Rollins.

Fort Kent pulled within 11 with 6:19 remaining in the fourth quarter, but layups by Underhill and Erica Brownell put the Red Devils back up by 15 as they held on for the victory.

“Their guards played up and forced us out of our comfort zone,” said Fort Kent head coach Travis Deslisle. “It just wasn’t there tonight.”

RED DEVILS 43, WARRIORS 27

Central (15-6) Fort Kent (13-8)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Davis 2 7 4 4 10 Pelletier 1 2

Elliott 3 9 1 2 7 Albert 1 9 7

Brownell 2 8 0 0 4 Hafford 1 3 2

T. Undrhill 4 7 0 2 8 Violette 4 10 4 4 12

Libby 2 5 0 1 4 Charette 0 0

Trafton 1 5 2 2 4 Rossignol 2 4

Melton 2 4 0 0 4 Morneault 0 0

LeBlanc 1 1 0 0 2 Jandreau 0 0

Collins 0 0 0 0 0 Perreault 0 0

Morin 0 0 0 0 0 Bouchard 0 0

A. Undrhill 0 0 0 2 0

K. McHugh 0 0 0 0 0

R. McHugh 0 0 0 2 0

Totals 17 46 7 15 43 Totals 9 35 15 27

Central 11 21 30 43

Fort Kent 4 15 19 27

3-pt. goals – Central (2-6): Davis 2-4, Elliot 0-1, Brownell 0-1; Fort Kent (0-8): Jandreau 0-1, Hafford 0-1, Albert 0-2, Pelletier 0-4