NEWPORT – If Mount Desert Island girls basketball coach Burt Barker had known what his scorebook would end up looking like before Friday night’s showdown with fellow unbeaten and defending state champ Nokomis, he wouldn’t have liked his chances.

His Trojans shot just 30.6 percent from the field, committed four times as many turnovers as Nokomis, and scored just 31 total points. So Burt, how would you describe your odds?

“Playing in here? Uh… Slim,” Barker admitted.

What neither he nor the best oddsmakers in Vegas could have taken into account was MDI’s dominance on the boards and defensive tenacity as the Trojans snuck out of Nokomis High’s gym with a 31-22 victory and snapped the Warriors’ 27-game win streak.

Friday’s marquee matchup of defending state champs (MDI in Class B and Nokomis in A) made up in drama what it lacked in offensive excitement.

Points were at a premium as the Trojans switched from a matchup zone to man-to-man and mixed in a fullcourt press and halfcourt trap to wear down Nokomis’ guards. Nokomis countered with a straight man defense, but switched to a press for much of the second half to play catch-up.

Nokomis scored the first four points of the game, but after a 9-0 MDI run, the Warriors were never tied or leading again despite having just one turnover in the second half and four overall. MCI committed 12 in the second and 16 total.

“We couldn’t make a shot and we never made them pay for those turnovers,” said coach Earl Anderson, whose Warriors dip to 5-1. “There were two points in the second half where we had momentum and had them reeling a little, but we just couldn’t close the gap. We needed that one extra shot to go in and get us over the hump, but it slipped away.”

After trailing as much as 16-8, the Warriors made their first rally attempt with junior forward-center Danielle Clark scoring four of Nokomis’ first six points of the second half as the Warriors outscored MDI 7-3 and got within three points (17-14) just 2:34 into the third quarter. But MDI had an answer in the form of a 6-0 run to close the quarter out and take a 10-point lead.

It was Clark again with two hoops in the first two minutes as Nokomis started the fourth with a 6-0 run, but MDI’s balanced scoring and rebounding were just enough to thwart the rally and overcome a 1-for-4 effort from the foul line late in the game.

The Trojans improved to 11-0 largely because of their rebounding. Nokomis got virtually no second-chance points as the Trojans dominated the defensive boards 35-18 en route to an overall 42-25 edge.

Leading MDI’s charge inside was point guard Bracey Barker and guard/forward Shelley Gott, who each had 13 rebounds and combined for 14 points and five assists.

“We knew all five of us were gonna have to hit the boards hard,” Gott said.

“I think it was mostly our defense,” said Barker, who also had two blocks. “We closed down Clark early on and we did a nice job on their 3-point shooters.”

Clark had six points and five boards in the first half en route to a 16-point, eight-rebound night, but more importantly, Nokomis shot 1-for-17 from 3-point range and a season-low 19.1 percent overall from the field.

“Our inside people are 5-7 and 5-8, and of course there’s Bracey,” said Burt Barker. “We get outrebounded most games, but when all five kids are rebounding, which they were tonight, then we’re tough.”

TROJANS 31, WARRIORS 22

MDI (11-0) Nokomis (5-1)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Boisvert 0 0 0 0 0 Welch 1 8 2

Gordius 0 0 0 0 0 Murray 1 7 4

Joy 1 2 3 4 5 Snow 0 5 0 0

Horton 1 4 0 1 2 MacKenzie 0 0

Joseph 1 1 0 0 2 Paradis 0 0 0

Willson 0 3 0 0 0 Merrow 0 2 0

Gott 3 7 1 2 7 Lowe 0 2 0 0

Barker 2 9 3 4 7 Clark 7 20 16

Kane 1 4 0 0 2

Norwood 2 6 0 0 6

Totals 11 36 7 11 31 Totals 9 47 22

MDI 9 14 24 31

Nokomis 4 7 14 22

3-pt. goals: MDI (2-7): Norwood 2-4, Gott 0-1, Barker 0-2; Nokomis (1-17): Murray 1-5, Clark 0-1, Snow 0-2, MacKenzie 0-3, Welch 0-6

Attendance: 850 (est.)

Preliminary: MDI 35-32