BANGOR – Just because the No. 2 John Bapst girls basketball team beat No. 6 MDI twice in the regular season didn’t mean the Crusaders felt at all confident before Wednesday afternoon’s Eastern Maine Class B semifinal at the Bangor Auditorium.

In both regular-season games Bapst had to rally to log its wins over the Trojans.

The semifinal was no different, despite a last-ditch shot by MDI’s Amethyst Cousins and two opening 3-pointers from Trojan guard Kelsey Stratton.

Bapst rallied from a 6-point halftime deficit, looking inside to junior center Hillary Laferriere and senior forward Lauren Nichols, to post a 40-39 victory over the Trojans and earn a berth in the Eastern Maine Class B semifinal for the second straight year.

The 18-2 Crusaders will face No. 1 Waterville, which beat No. 5 Mattanawcook of Lincoln 57-55 Wednesday, in Saturday’s 2:05 p.m. final.

Laferriere finished with a game-high 15 points, including nine in the third quarter, and 14 rebounds as Bapst made its move after halftime.

“We needed to go out, be patient, take care of the basketball and give Hillary time to get freed up inside,” Bapst coach Mike Webb said. “We needed to pound the basketball inside. Our game plan was, it’s very hard for Cousins or [Susan] Falt to guard Hillary, so we wanted to get them in foul trouble. By pounding the ball inside and being patient, that really worked.”

MDI (16-5) got up by as many as nine points in the third quarter until the Crusaders converted two Trojan turnovers and the rebound of a missed MDI free throw to eventually cut the lead to three points at the end of the third.

“We started out not really with it,” Laferriere said. “But we came back and won.”

John Bapst benefited from strong rebounding, which was key as Erin McGuan tapped an offensive rebound out to Nichols, who drained a jumper with 3:47 left. The basket gave the Crusaders their first lead of the game and put them ahead for good.

“[MDI] pretty much jump to try to tap the ball,” McGuan said. “If you get up as high as you can you can grab it.”

Three of Bapst’s five field goals in the fourth quarter came after offensive rebounds.

“Our rebounding in the paint was what did us in tonight,” MDI coach Brent Barker said. “We didn’t do a great job on defensive rebounds.”

After McGuan passed inside to Nichols for a 40-37 lead, MDI’s Kelsey Stratton, who drained two 3-pointers to open the game, hit a jumper in the lane to cut it to one point.

After Bapst missed two free throws in the final two minutes the Trojans had a chance to win it. MDI’s Sue Falt inbounded the ball on the Bapst endline, sending a long pass to Cousins in the MDI end.

Cousins (11 points) took a few dribbles and with 2.2 seconds left launched an 18-footer that hit the backboard and fell back on to the court.

“I think she took a little bit of a quick one, but it’s a shot she’s capable of making and it’s a shot that gives us a chance to win the game,” Barker said.

Stratton finished with 10 points. Lindsay Lewis had 11.

CRUSADERS 40, TROJANS 39

MDI (16-5) John Bapst (18-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Stratton 4 9 0 0 10 Jordan 2 9 6

Young 0 0 0 0 0 Nichols 6 11 12

Banks 0 1 1 2 1 Andrle 1 4 3

Lewis 3 8 4 6 11 Maquillan 0 0

Orman 0 2 0 2 0 McGuan 2 4 4

Cousins 5 13 1 2 11 Gormley 0 0 0

Falt 3 7 0 0 6 Laferriere 6 14 15

Vaux 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 15 40 6 12 39 Totals 17 43 13 40

MDI 14 22 33 39

John Bapst 9 16 30 40

3-pt. goals – MDI (3-6): Stratton 2-4, Lewis 1-1, Orman 0-1; John Bapst (3-10): Jordan 2-8, Andrle 1-2