The Green Mountain girls basketball team won three fewer games during the regular season than it did last year and entered the playoffs with a slightly lower seeding than it enjoyed in 2008.

Yet, a crucial part of the postseason is momentum, and for that reason the Rams are a much more confident bunch than they were a year ago.

Green Mountain ended the regular season with four consecutive wins and kept the streak alive Wednesday, extending it to five with a 51-38 victory against Fairview in the first round of the Class 5A tournament.

The eighth-seeded Rams, who suffered a first-round exit in last year's tournament, will take their hot streak into a second-round match Friday against top-seeded Regis Jesuit.

"It's going to be tough, but we're in the playoffs with a five-game winning streak," Green Mountain coach Jim Miller said.

"Last year, we started out strong, we were ranked, then we faded at the end.

"You know the formula - you've got to be going strong at the end, and that was our goal (this year)."

The Rams (13-11) used their formidable size advantage to dominate Fairview on the boards, scoring several second-chance baskets to support the strong outside shooting of senior Kayley Lewark during two decisive second-half runs.

Fairview trailed by eight at halftime and climbed to four early in the third quarter before the Rams reeled off a 15-4 run, a burst highlighted by Lewark's third consecutive three-pointer and the tenacious rebounding of Danielle Stephan, Erin Andersen and Julie Camper.

"We are a really good rebounding team all around," Andersen said. "That is what keeps us in most games, and some of the last games that we've won, we've pretty much won off of rebounds. We totally shut them out down on the boards."

Green Mountain built a 15-point lead that Fairview trimmed to 10 early in the fourth, but the Rams answered with eight consecutive points to pull away.

Stephan led the Rams with 14 points and Lewark made her first four shots to finish with 11. Casey Thayer led Fairview (12-12) with 11 points.

"It's tough after a hard season to come out and have a good couple of games," Andersen said. "We're going to take it as far as we can."

Fairview 7 10 11 10 - 38

Green Mountain 12 13 15 11 - 51

F - Casey Thayer 3 5-6 11, Sarah Fosco 1 0-0 3, Katie Malzbender 0 0-0 0, Caitlin Higgins 2 0-1 4, Cassie Weber 1 0-0 2, Julia Pitkin 2 0-0 4, Sierra Bender 4 0-0 9, Kristen Narum 0 1-2 1, Lauren Mahoney 0 2-4 2, Julie Arndt 0 0-0 0, Carlee Lough 1 0-0 2. Totals 14 8-13 38.

GM - Laura Schaefer 0 2-2 2, Danielle Stephan 5 4-6 14, Julie Camper 1 2-2 4, Erin Andersen 3 3-7 10, Kayley Lewark 4 0-0 11, Adaugo Osuala 1 2-4 4, Cassie McGurk 3 0-1 6, Mariah Baker 0 0-0 0, Erika Eppard 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 13-22 51.

Three-point goals - F, Fosco, Bender; GM, Lewark 3, Andersen.