BANGOR – The Dexter girls basketball team hasn’t had to overcome much adversity on the court in recent years. The top-seeded Tigers have won a Class C state championship, three Eastern Maine titles, and entered Friday night’s semifinal with an 18-1 record.

So it’s nice for Dexter to know it can win despite all kinds of trouble in one single game.

The Tigers used a stellar man-to-man defensive effort to overcome foul trouble, injury, and an off shooting night to post a 36-17 victory over No. 5 Houlton at the Bangor Auditorium.

“We pretty much rely on our defense,” junior forward Kate Poirier said. “That’s where we put everything together. And when we have a bad offensive game, we usually win with our defense.”

The Tigers will face longtime rival No. 7 Central of Corinth, which beat No. 6 Fort Kent in the first semifinal Friday. The Class C title game will be tonight at 7:50.

Playing with 6-foot-6 center Mallory Ames on the bench most of the game – first due to foul trouble, later due to a reinjury of a sprained ankle – Dexter shut down the Shiretowners behind the efforts of senior guard Sabrina Cote and Poirier.

Cote, who led the Tigers with 13 points, guarded Houlton’s Danielle Sewell while the 5-11 Poirier, who had a team-high eight rebounds, watched 6-1 center Rachel Foster.

Sewell finished with three points on 1-for-12 shooting, while Foster made two field goals on 10 attempts en route to five points. Both Houlton players scored 12 points apiece in their quarterfinal.

“Dexter did a tremendous job defensively, probably the best defensive team we’ve faced all year,” Houlton coach Shawn Graham said. “There again, our goal was to keep them in the 30s and our girls did that. … We played well defensively, but bottom line is, we just couldn’t throw it in the hole.”

Houlton made seven field goals on 34 shots. Then again, Dexter went 13-for-42 from the floor for a disappointing offensive effort, too.

Dexter jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter as the Tigers were able to make jump shots against Houlton’s zone defense. But after Chelsea Chambers scored off a pass from Tracy Mountain 1:02 into the second quarter, Dexter didn’t score again until Cote made a free throw with 44.1 seconds left before halftime.

It’s a good thing the Tigers’ defense was clicking. They held the Shiretowners to two second-quarter field goals. Victoria Rowe’s basket 2:27 before halftime started the Houlton scoring drought, which lasted the entire third quarter and 2:37 into the fourth when Foster made a free throw.

With that shot, Dexter had a 30-10 lead.

The Tigers forced 20 turnovers, which helped them maintain possession and take some time off the clock.

“We knew coming in we’d have to play really good defense to be able score some points, especially if weren’t able to score inside,” Cote said.

The Tigers received key minutes from 5-10 junior guard Chambers off the bench, especially with Ames out for long stretches.

Keegan Hovey led Houlton with six points. Foster had 10 rebounds.

Ames, who rolled her right ankle in practice last week, fell to the floor and looked to be in pain midway through the first quarter but stayed in the game. She picked up her second foul at the end of the period and went to the bench.

She started the third quarter, but with 1:11 left she again fell and was helped off. Ames sat for the rest of the game.

Afterward, she left the locker room with ice on her right ankle. Her status for Saturday’s final is unknown.

TIGERS 36, SHIRETOWNERS 17

Houlton (14-6) Dexter (19-1)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Flkngham 0 0 0 0 0 Ames 2 3 4

Bither 0 0 0 0 0 Chmbers 2 3 4

Rowe 1 2 1 2 3 Morales 0 0 0 0

Bartlett 0 1 0 0 0 Mountain 2 4

Foster 2 10 1 2 5 Burton 2 12 6

Harbison 0 0 0 0 0 Wing 0 0 0

Dow 0 2 0 0 0 Cote 3 13 7 10 13

Hovey 3 7 0 0 6 Rchardsn 0 0

Herring 0 0 0 0 0 Poirier 2 6 5

Ritchie 0 0 0 0 0 Clukey 0 2 0

Sewell 1 12 1 2 3

Butler 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 7 34 3 6 17 Totals 13 42 10 16 36

Houlton 5 9 9 17

Dexter 12 15 23 36

3-pt. goals – Houlton (0-3): Sewell 0-3; Dexter (0-5): Burton 0-5