Old Town’s Saige Evans goes up for a shot by Presque Isle’s Anna Jandreau (#20) and Mia Casavant (#34) in first half action of the girls Class B North semifinal game at the Cross Insurance Center on Feb. 23. Credit: Linda Coan O'Kresik / BDN

The top-seeded Old Town High School Coyotes put on a clinic at the expense of the fourth-seeded Presque Isle High School Wildcats in their Class B North basketball semifinal on Wednesday afternoon at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.

Old Town held Presque Isle to three points in the first half while building a 30-3 lead and coasted to a 64-22 victory.

Sydney Loring had 17 points and five rebounds to pace Old Town, which is now 20-1 after collecting its 14th consecutive win.

Old Town will now face 18-2 Hermon in Saturday’s 2 p.m. final.

Hermon eliminated Mount Desert Island 42-32 earlier Wednesday.

Old Town’s Gabrielle Cody takes a shot past Presque Isle’s Rossalyn Buck in first half action of the girls Class B North semi final game at the Cross Insurance Center Wednesday. Old Town won the game 64-22. Credit: Linda Coan O'Kresik / BDN
Old Town’s Lexi Thibodeau goes up for a shot by Presque Isle’s Faith Sjoberg in first half action of the girls Class B North semifinal game at the Cross Insurance Center Wednesday. Credit: Linda Coan O'Kresik / BDN

Saige Evans contributed nine points and eight rebounds. Lexi Thibodeau and Maddie Arsenault had seven points apiece and Makayla Emerson had six.

Gabrielle Cody hauled down seven rebounds.

Faith Sjoberg had nine for 14-7 Presque Isle to conclude her career with 1,053 points. Presque Isle shot 1-for-21 over the first 16 minutes as Old Town’s tenacious man-to-man defense contested virtually every shot.

Presque Isle shot 6-for-46 from the floor.

“We work on our defense all the time in practice. We take pride in it,” Evans said.

Old Town coach Heather Richards agreed.

“They have grown to love defense. I think that is part of what has united them. They realize they’re really good at it,” Richards said.

Old Town celebrates their 64-22 victory over Presque Isle in the girls Class B North semi final game at the Cross Insurance Center Wednesday. Credit: Linda Coan O'Kresik / BDN

“We knew they had a couple of shooters so we face-guarded them and everybody else helped out in the paint,” Loring said.

She said their fast start can be attributed to the fact “we are really excited to be here.”

“Missing out on the tournament made them hungrier this year,” Richards said.

The Coyotes moved the ball around on offense and attacked the basket, collecting a lot of second-chance opportunities and extending possessions.

“We like to share the ball and get it to the open shooter,” Loring said.

An emotional end for Presque Isle after losing 64-22 to Old Town in the girls Class B North semi final game at the Coss Insurance Center Wednesday. Credit: Linda Coan O'Kresik / BDN

Presque Isle coach Jeff Hudson said Old Town was “awesome.”

“They looked like a number one team. They’re going to be tough to beat,” Hudson said.

Loring’s two 3-pointers opened the scoring before Maddie Emerson and Thibodeau hit runners to make it 10-0.

Sjoberg nailed a three but the Wildcats were held scoreless for the next 13 minutes and 54 seconds until Sjoberg sank two free throws in the third period.

That made it 32-5.