The Bangor girls basketball team will face a familiar opponent when it opens its Eastern Maine Class A tournament run tonight.

Although No. 1 Messalonskee of Oakland dealt the No. 8 Rams two losses in the regular season of the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference North Division, Bangor has plenty of reason to believe it can knock off the 17-1 Eagles.

“We played them tough twice,” Bangor coach Tom Tennett said Tuesday after the Rams beat No. 9 Edward Little of Auburn 51-46 in a preliminary-round game to gain the quarterfinal berth. “The first time we probably should have beaten them at their place. We just have to go out and play well Friday.”

The Rams and Eagles will play at 8:30 p.m., the final game of four EM Class A quarterfinals at the Augusta Civic Center. No. 3 Oxford Hills of South Paris (15-3) will take on No. 6 Mt. Blue of Farmington (12-7) in the 3 p.m. opener in Augusta.

Eastern Maine Class B tourney play kicks off Saturday afternoon at the Bangor Auditorium when No. 3 Camden Hills (15-3) takes on No. 6 MDI (15-3) at 3:05 p.m.

The Class D quarterfinals get under way Saturday night and Class C begins Tuesday morning.

Bangor lost both of its games against Messalonskee by a combination of just eight points, falling 52-48 on Dec. 22 and 54-50 on Jan. 27. The Rams have only themselves to blame for the losses, junior guard Amy Hackett said.

“We’ve been leading in both games at the end, but we were the ones who made the mental mistakes,” said the KVAC North second-team all-star. “I think we’ve got a grab on that now. We have to be there mentally as a team and cut down on our turnovers.”

Messalonskee’s only loss of the season came against Nokomis of Newport on Jan. 12. Since then the Eagles have won nine straight and senior guard Chelsea Barker was named the KVAC North Player of the Year for the second season in a row.

The second EM Class B girls quarterfinal of the day pits defending champion Presque Isle, which earned the No. 7 seed with a 12-7 record, against No. 2 John Bapst of Bangor (16-2), which was the matchup in the 2006 regional final.

The Wildcats beat the Crusaders in that game, and in the first game of this regular season. Bapst avenged that 50-45 loss on Dec. 9 with a 50-44 win on Jan. 6.

John Bapst had a bye in the first round while Presque Isle defeated No. 10 Winslow 38-28 in a prelim Tuesday.

Cooper expected for quarterfinal

Cony of Augusta girls basketball coach Paul Vachon expects star forward Cassie Cooper back in time for the No. 2 Rams’ push in the Eastern Maine Class A tournament.

Vachon has been slowly working Cooper back into the lineup but the Dartmouth-bound forward hasn’t played significant minutes since spraining her left ankle in a 51-49 double-overtime loss to Bangor on Dec. 29.

Cooper left that game with 9.8 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

She will be back for Friday’s 4:30 p.m. Eastern Maine Class A quarterfinal at the Augusta Civic Center, however, according to Vachon. Cony (16-2) will play No. 7 Morse of Bath (15-4).

“She definitely will be playing our quarterfinal game unless something happens in practice,” Vachon said recently. “There isn’t any doubt in my mind.”

The last time a Rams team went without a genuine star for a long stretch was in the 1999-2000 season when guard-forward Julie Veilleux didn’t play after breaking a bone in her left foot during Cony’s eighth regular-season game.

The situations are similar in that both Veilleux and Cooper were key cogs, Vachon said recently, but different, too. In the case of Veilleux’s injury, the Rams needed their post players to improve because she played inside so much. Cooper plays more outside and was the point guard for part of the season last year, which has meant this year’s group of guards have had to pick up their pace.

“With Julie we had veteran guards but this year we didn’t have that,” Vachon said. “This year our guards have responded.”

So have post players Kristi Violette and Rachael Mack, who have both upped their scoring.

Vachon said Violette has been averaging a double-double in points and rebounds since Cooper’s injury.

Violette’s rebounding effort has been particularly impressive, he said. Violette had 18 points and 18 rebounds in about 16 minutes of play against Erskine and she had 20 rebounds in a 65-28 win over Morse on Jan. 19.

“She is just attacking the boards extremely, extremely well,” Vachon said. “She’s definitely the best rebounder I’ve had, there isn’t any doubt in my mind. I have never seen anyone rebound the way she has on my team, anyway. She’s just going crazy right now.”

The Veilleux and Cooper injury situations are also similar in that both were headed for college careers. Veilleux went on to score 892 points in a 4-year career at the University of Maine, while Cooper is headed to Dartmouth next fall.

“We took our time with Julie and she never had a problem after that,” Vachon said. “It’s the same thing with Cassie, we want to make sure we don’t ruin her college career. The trainers have been great and I think when she comes back she’ll be of good strength. Maybe not of good condition, but of good strength. That’s what we all want for her.”