BANGOR – The Lee Academy Pandas knew that if they were going to beat Woodland in the Eastern Maine championship, they would have to stay composed in the face of the Dragons’ relentless full court pressure – and they would have to stop Ashley Marble.

Lee coach Carrie Goodhue thought her team succeeded on both those counts Saturday morning at the Bangor Auditorium. But the Pandas couldn’t handle the Dragons 5-foot-11 senior forward, Julia Knights, who poured in 23 points, including the 1,000th of her career, to lead Woodland to a 65-53 win and its second consecutive title.

Woodland, now 19-2, will defend its state championship against Western Maine champ Rangeley Saturday at the Augusta Civic Center. Lee finished at 18-4.

“We tried to shut down Marble, and she had 10 points, so to us that’s shutting her down,” said Goodhue, whose team split with Woodland during the regular season. “But Julia Knights stepped up and had a great game. … That goes to show you that with Woodland, you just can’t focus on one girl.”

Knights also had eight rebounds, six blocks and three assists.

Lee’s Deidra Ham was certainly impressed.

“Julia’s just a brute down inside,” Ham said, smiling with rueful admiration.

Perhaps no basket of the game was more important than the hoop that gave Knights her 1,000th point (22nd of the game). Trailing 53-34 at the end of three, Lee had seized the momentum and reeled off an 11-0 run to slash the Woodland lead to 55-45 with 3:45 to play.

But Knights got the ball 13 feet out on the right baseline and drove around several defenders, banking it in and drawing a foul. Although Knights missed her free throw, 30 seconds later Dragons’ guard Kaitlyn Leeman (17 points) drove, converted a double-clutch jumper in the lane, and drew a foul. Leeman drained her free throw to boost the lead to 60-45 with 2:40 remaining and put the Pandas away for good.

“We kept the intensity up when they were coming back,” said Leeman. “We stuck really close as a team. It helps when others on the team are telling you to keep your head up.”

Knights said that she knew going into the game that she was close to 1,000, but that coach Arnie Clark hadn’t told her exactly how many she needed to reach the mark.

After all, Knights said, she had more important matters to concern herself with. Like defense.

“The key was that we played clean defense, and didn’t foul a lot,” Knights said.

The Dragons did not commit a foul until there was 3:32 to go in the second quarter. By then, Woodland had a 26-13 lead.

Woodland had built its lead behind a stifling 1-2-2 half-court defense. The Dragons had used a fullcourt press early on, but the composure of point guard Ham helped limit the press’ effectiveness.

The 5-10 Marble manned the top of the 1-2-2 zone and harassed the 5-5 Ham with her long arms and quick feet.

Clark said the defense was designed to limit the Pandas’ two major offensive weapons: forward Shelby Pickering and Ham.

“Our defensive pressure over the whole game was the difference. Defense doesn’t always get the credit. … But these kids have bought into the fact that without defense, you can’t win,” Clark said.

The Dragons’ defense was complemented by stellar shooting, including a 22-for-44 (50 percent) effort from the floor and 19-for-26 (82 percent) from the line.

Sophomore point guard Leeman went 4-for-7 from the floor and 8-for-9 from the line. Forward Katie Smith added eight points and nine rebounds while Marble had six assists and three steals.

Pickering poured in 21 points and grabbed 21 rebounds (15 offensive) for Lee. Pickering used a boggling assortment of head fakes and jab steps to work her way around her defenders.

Sophomore forward Sam Cole came off the bench and tossed in 12 points for Lee, connecting on 5-for-8 shots from the floor. Ashley Linscott added 10 points and Ham dished out five assists.

Dragons 65, Pandas 53

Lee (18-4) Woodland (19-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Mallett 0 1 0 0 0 Marble 3 8 10

Bird 1 2 0 0 2 Brown 1 3 1 3

Hanscom 0 1 0 0 0 Murphy 0 0 0

Harris 0 7 0 0 0 Snowman 0 0 0

Linscott 4 8 0 0 10 Leeman 4 7 17

D. Ham 0 12 2 4 2 Smith 4 7 8

Hersom 3 3 0 0 6 Newman 0 1 0

Cole 5 8 2 4 12 Lord 0 1 0 0

M. Ham 0 0 0 0 0 Troiani 2 2 4

Gifford 0 0 0 0 0 Knights 8 15 10 23

Brown 0 0 0 0 0 Seavey 0 0 0

Pickering 9 19 3 7 21 Vose 0 0 0

Maxwell 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 22 61 7 15 53 22 44 19 26 65

Lee 11 21 34 53

Woodland 17 34 53 65

3-pt. goals: Lee (2-15): Bird 0-1, Hanscom 0-1, Harris 0-6, Linscott 2-5, D. Ham 0-2; Woodland (2-8): Marble 1-5, Leeman 1-2, Brown 0-1