AUGUSTA — Standing in a crowd on the Augusta Civic Center floor, Lawrence senior Paige Belanger talked about how the Bulldogs approach every game like they’re the underdog. Nothing is handed to us, she said. We always have something to prove.
Belanger couldn’t help but think about how far the team had come in four years — from really being the underdogs on a nightly basis, to celebrating the school’s first state title in girls basketball since 1994.
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“It’s definitely bittersweet,” Belanger said. “With this team growing since we won two games my freshman year to winning the state championship my senior year, it’s just more than I could ever ask for. These girls are like my second family.”
The Bulldogs trailed Thornton by six points at halftime, but Nia Irving, Dominique Lewis and Belanger all made huge plays down the stretch as Lawrence had a very happy Saturday afternoon with a 50-43 victory over Thornton in the Class A state championship game.
Irving scored a game-high 27 points and grabbed seven rebounds while playing only 23 minutes. She finished eight of 10 from the floor and 11 of 12 from the foul line.
“We fronted her a little bit early on, and they were still able to get the ball inside to her,” Thornton coach Eric Marston said. “Obviously, our bigs got into foul trouble early. Both sides dealt with that issue, certainly. It was a matter of trying to manage the fouls on both sides, but they did a nice job getting the ball in to her.”
The foul trouble started almost immediately, as Thornton’s Abby Strickland began the game guarding Irving, but picked up two fouls in the first 2 minutes, 2 seconds. Thornton’s Victoria Lux switched to Irving, but picked up her second foul with 2:55 to go in the first quarter on a three-point play by Belanger.
Lux sat down and Strickland went back to guarding Irving, but Strickland was shackled by her foul trouble. Irving scored two easy baskets to give the Bulldogs a 12-6 lead.
But with the score 12-7, Irving had to go to the bench with her second foul after trying to block a shot by Thornton freshman Alex Hart (team-high 14 points). The Golden Trojans outscored Lawrence 9-3 with Irving off the floor, and Irving was hit with her third foul with 3:30 still to play in the half.
“I made stupid decisions on the defensive end that I knew I shouldn’t have made,” Irving said. “And I paid the price for it.”
Thornton led 26-20 at halftime, and was also able to sit Lux and keep her from picking up a third foul. Lawrence had been down 37-30 at halftime of the Eastern A semifinals against Brunswick.
“Coach really just said that we aren’t playing our game,” Lewis said. “We were forcing it too much. We weren’t taking our shots. We weren’t playing very good defense. It just all-around wasn’t our game, and we needed to start playing our game.”
“We’ve been in these situations before — the game against Brunswick, the game against Bangor,” Irving said. “We knew that we’ve been down at the half six, seven points, and we knew what it’d take to step up and make this game ours.”
Still, there was the undeniable feeling that Thornton left a chance for a 10-point halftime lead on the table. The Trojans were six of 13 from the free throw line in the first half, and nine of 21 for the game.
“Our free-throw shooting’s been inconsistent all year,” Marston said. “It caught up with us tonight, for sure.”
After, as she put it, paying the price for her foul trouble in the first half, Irving made Thornton pay the price for her anger about having to sit on the bench. Just 43 seconds into the third quarter, she scored on a three-point play as Strickland was called for her fourth foul. Midway through the quarter, Lux committed her third foul.
“I hate sitting on the bench,” Irving said. “I just wanted to get in there and work the ball down low. I mean, this deserves it more than anyone, so I just wanted to help them achieve it.”
“Their defense was great,” Lewis said. “They denied the pass to the wing. They had good defense on Nia. I think what hurt them was their bigs were getting fouls. They couldn’t foul Nia, because they would get more fouls.”
Irving scored Lawrence’s first 11 points of the third quarter, and senior Jordyn Towers buried a jumper when Thornton’s defense crowded Irving underneath. Thornton also got the undesirable end of the stick on two calls in the third quarter.
With about 4 minutes left, Hart grabbed a long rebound and dashed upcourt. With only Lewis between her and the basket, Hart tried for a layup. There was contact, but the officials ruled no foul and that Hart lost the ball out of bounds. Marston was hit with a technical foul, and Irving made both foul shots. Later in the quarter, Lux was supposed to shoot two free throws, but had the first one taken away when she stepped over the line before shooting.
Thornton still led 36-33 after three, but Lawrence again took advantage of Thornton sagging on Irving, as Lewis knocked down a three to tie the game. Irving was whistled for her fourth foul with 6:25 to go, but after sitting for 1 minute and 35 seconds, she played the final 3:15 without fouling out.
The score was 40-40 when Lewis (who scored nine of her 12 points in the fourth quarter) curled around a screen for a layup with 2:34 left. After a Lawrence stop on defense, Irving drove for a layup, and it was 44-40 with just 2:06 to go.
“I actually made my layup,” Lewis said, laughing, “which is crazy, because I never make those.”
Belanger came up with maybe the two biggest rebounds of the game in the final two minutes. With 1:35 to go, she grabbed a missed free throw by Hart with the score 44-41. Then, with 47 seconds left and the Bulldogs ahead 46-41, Belanger rebounded a missed foul shot by Lewis. Irving was fouled and hit both free throws to ice it.
“These girls have come so far,” Irving said. “Individually. As players. From Jordyn and Paige’s freshman year, when Abby (Weigang) transferred in, we’ve grown as a team together. I love this team more than anything, and I just couldn’t think of any girls that are more deserving.”
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
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