BANGOR – The plan for McAuley in Saturday afternoon’s win over Nokomis of Newport in the Class A girls basketball state final at the Bangor Auditorium was pretty simple, really.

Rotate three different players on the opposition’s top player to wear her down, put one of your best defenders on the other team’s sharpshooter, get at least a hand in front of anyone trying to nail a perimeter shot, and attack the paint on offense.

The strategy looked a bit shaky early on for the McAuley girls of Portland. They committed six turnovers and ended the first quarter with a seven-point deficit and then limped into halftime down eight with three players in foul trouble.

Rather than throw that plan into the garbage with all the empty bottles of Gatorade, McAuley coach Elizabeth Rickett opted to make a couple of second-half adjustments instead. The immediate result was a 14-4 run to start the second half that helped carry them to victory. The end result was a 50-39 victory.

A crowd of 2,754 fans saw the green-and-gold Lions finish up a 21-1 season and win their second straight state title. Those fans also saw a showcase for two of the state’s premier players in McAuley guard Sarah Marshall and Nokomis forward Danielle Clark.

Individually, the battle was a stalemate as neither player guarded the other and both played solid games, but Marshall earned bragging rights by scoring 10 of her game-high 16 points in the second half and rallying McAuley.

Clark was the one smiling early in the tale of two halves as she scored eight points and grabbed five rebounds in the first half, but a reinvigorated and refocused defensive effort in the second half held her to four points and two boards the rest of the way.

“I wasn’t getting the ball inside and I was forced to come out and get the ball,” said a somber Clark. “I need to get the ball inside in order for us to win and that didn’t happen.”

Part of the reason for that was the ever-changing trio of defenders who harassed Clark at every turn: 6-foot forward Marisa Berne, 5-9 forward Tara Beaulieu, and 5-5 guard Kara Ebrahim.

“That was the plan, to keep someone on her and in her face the entire game because she’s such a great player,” said Berne. “She was the one threat we thought would do anything. They have those guards, but we still wanted to make them beat us from outside.”

Other teams have tried the same thing, but none of them were still in the playoffs. What made McAuley successful? Basically, Marshall and the Lions’ perimeter defense.

Marshall locked up Nokomis shooter Michelle Murray in a defensive vise, holding her to eight points on 3-for-9 shooting.

“I tried to close out on her quick and, if anything, make her put it on the floor because she’s such a great shooter,” Marshall explained.

Collectively, the Warriors shot 4-for-14 from 3-point range, but went 0-for-6 in the second half as they didn’t get many open looks against McAuley’s zone press.

“We tried to close out hard on just about everyone because as set shooters, they don’t miss,” said Rickett.

While the zone press was frustrating Nokomis’ transition game, harassing the shooters, and causing turnovers (eight of 12 came in the second half), the Lions’ decision to pound the ball inside offensively was also paying off.

When they weren’t hitting shots from the post (24 of 36 second-half points were scored in the paint), the Lions were going to the foul line, where they nailed 18 of 20 shots – all in the second half.

Meanwhile, Nokomis was dreadful at the line, shooting only 56 percent (9-for-16) overall.

“We’re normally very good on the foul line. When we won it two years ago, that was the main reason,” said coach Earl Anderson, whose Warriors wound up 20-2. “That and rebounding killed us today.”

McAuley outrebounded the Warriors 13-5 offensively and 34-22 overall.

Berne (10 points, eight rebounds), Regina Champagne (six, nine), and Vanessa Lux (seven, five) led the frontcourt effort for the Lions. The production was amazing considering Berne, Beaulieu, Lux, and Ebrahim had four fouls each with 41/2 minutes to play. None of them fouled out.

Nokomis senior forward Sarah Lowe came on late, scoring seven of eight points and grabbing all three of her rebounds in the second half.

LIONS 50, WARRIORS 39

McAuley (21-1) Nokomis (20-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Marshall 5 17 6 6 16 Welch 2 8 6

Gagnon 1 2 0 0 2 Murray 3 9 8

Ka.Ebrahim 1 2 3 4 5 Snow 2 4 5

Beaulieu 2 3 0 0 4 Paradis 0 0 0

Berne 3 7 4 4 10 Merrow 0 0 0

Champagne 1 7 4 4 6 Lowe 3 3 8

Lux 3 7 1 2 7 Clark 3 11 6 12

Totals 16 45 18 20 50 13 35 16 39

McAuley 4 14 28 50

Nokomis 11 22 26 39

3-pt. goals ? McAuley (0-4): Marshall 0-1, Gagnon 0-1, Champagne 0-2; Nokomis (4-14): Welch 2-6, Snow 1-2, Murray 1-5, Clark 0-1

Attendance: 2,754