Going up against four-time defending state champion Lawrence High School of Fairfield, seventh-ranked Bangor girls were certainly the underdog in many eyes.

Except their own.

“We just came into that game ready to play,” recalled senior captain Sara Parker. “I think that (Lawrence’s four-year reign) made it more exciting – going up against a team who had won 16 straight tournament games.”

The Rams will face Big East rival Nokomis of Newport at 8:37 p.m. tonight at the Bangor Auditorium in the Eastern Maine Class A schoolgirl semifinals. Leading the list of odd-ranked teams who made it through Saturday’s quarterfinals, top-ranked Cony and fifth-place Caribou will play the early game at 7:07 p.m.

Seventh-place Bangor provided the biggest upset Saturday, denying Lawrence the opportunity to defend its crown, by a 23-point margin.

Not bad for a 9-9 team which has faced a season of illness and injuries to key players, and were forced to win its last game to qualify for the tournament.

On the disabled list, sophomore center Jennifer Sarjeant was lost to knee injury at midseason, and within a week, junior Julie Murray went down with a severely sprained ankle. That left Bangor without two key players for a couple of weeks. Murray is now playing, but Sarjeant is still out.

“It seemed like every time you turned around, someone had the flu or bronchitis or was injured,” said Coach Tom Tennett.

But the team stepped up. With a 34-point performance from junior 6-footer Katie Clark, in the season’s last game against Old Town, Bangor just made the tournament with the overtime victory.

Clark also put up exceptional numbers to lead her team past Lawrence, pouring in 22 points, while grabbing eight rebounds and six steals.

While Tennett knows he can rely on the workhorse in Clark, he expects to see the rest of the team to step up against third-ranked Nokomis, whom they split a two-game series with in the regular season.

Nokomis took Bangor to overtime in their last matchup before losing 49-54. In that game, Sarjeant was healthy and playing man-to-man against Nokomis’ senior center-forward Kelly-Jo Bowman.

This time around it will be Bowman vs. Clark.

“It will be a matchup to watch,” Tennett said. “Right now, they’re two of the best forwards in Eastern Maine.”

Bowman was no slouch herself Saturday as she piled up 19 points and 11 rebounds against eighth-ranked Old Town. Teammates Kate Nye and Kate Burgess helped out with 14 and 13 points respectively.

“I think the thing about Nokomis is they’re a very balanced team,” Tennett said, mentioning junior forward-guard Burgess, sophomore guard Nye, and senior guard-forward Jodi Pelkey. “That’s one of the problems when preparing for Nokomis.”

Cony vs. Caribou

Controlling the juniors may be the secret to winning this one.

Cony’s offense features 5-7 guard Amy Vachon, who lit up Brewer Saturday for 26 points while grabbing eight boards and handing out six assists. Classmate Christine Huber added 10 points in the 58-45 victory.

The team will also aim for lots of rushed shots and steals with its pressing defense, while continuing with their 3-point shooting ways. The team launched 21 3-pointers, sinking five of them on Saturday.

Caribou’s offense features Erin Cole-Karagory, a 5-9 junior forward, who scored all of her 23 points in the second and fourth quarters Saturday in her team’s win against Presque Isle.

The Vikings have played man-to-man defense all season but played a zone against Presque Isle for the first time Saturday.