AUGUSTA – The Cony of Augusta girls basketball team struck from the outside early and held on from the inside late to down Skowhegan 65-58 in the Eastern Maine Class A final at the Augusta Civic Center on Friday afternoon.

The win was the 43rd straight overall for the defending state champion Rams, 21-0 this season after winning their third consecutive regional title.

“We’ve been building toward this all season,” said Cony sophomore forward Rachael Mack, who scored 23 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. “We didn’t play our best at the end, but we just wanted it and worked really hard and were able to pull it out.”

Top-ranked Cony will face the winner of the Western A final between Sanford and South Portland for the state championship next Saturday at the Augusta Civic Center.

Second-ranked Skowhegan finished with a 19-2 record.

Cony jumped out to a 23-10 first-quarter lead thanks to a barrage of 3-pointers, five to be exact, and three by guard Monica White – one of only two seniors on the Rams roster.

“It was unbelievable,” said White. “Coach just tells us to shoot it if we’re open, and that’s what I wanted to do, to shoot with confidence.”

Buoyed by that perimeter success, the Rams then began working the inside tandem of junior Cassie Cooper and Mack, who combined for 13 second-quarter points as Cony took a 39-25 lead into the break.

The lead grew to as much as 22 in the third quarter, the last time at 51-29 on a Cooper free throw with 3:29 left before Skowhegan began marching back thanks to its own long-range shooting.

The Indians struck for three 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter, two by junior guard Bethany Sevey, as Skowhegan outscored Cony 18-5 over the first five minutes of the period to pull within 58-53 on a basket from the lane by junior forward Megan Smith with 3:08 remaining.

But the Indians were unable to get closer, despite some shaky Cony free-throw shooting down the stretch.

“We made a comeback the other night, so we definitely knew it was possible for them to come back,” said White, alluding to Cony’s 54-52 quarterfinal win over Nokomis of Newport when the Rams rallied with eight unanswered points in the final minute of overtime. “We just wanted to keep our heads up and working hard.”

Cooper complemented Mack’s inside production with 12 points, 11 rebounds, and four assists.

“Cassie and I have had the height advantage all season, and we try to use it to our advantage in the high-low,” Mack said. “We just try to get the ball inside, and if we get doubled we kick it out, or if we don’t we shoot it.”

White added 11 points as well as a stellar defensive effort against Skowhegan guard Nicole Paradis, who managed just eight points on 2-of-11 shooting.

The other senior on the Cony roster, guard Maggie Rende, scored 11 points.

Sevey led Skowhegan with a game-high 25 points, including a 5-of-9 effort from beyond the 3-point arc. Smith added 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Danielle Miller also scored 10 points.

No. 2 Skowhegan (19-2) 58

Paradis 2-2-8, Sevey 9-2-25, LaGross 1-1-3, Pinkham 1-0-2, Miller 2-6-10, Smith 4-2-10, Atkinson, Saydjari, Veinotte, Brown, Evans

No. 1 Cony (21-0) 65

White 3-2-11, Rende 3-2-10, Cooper 4-5-13, Mack 7-8-22, Pelkey 3-2-9, Arbour, Pratt

3-pt. goals: Sevey 5, Paradis 2; White 3, Rende 2, Pelkey

Skowhegan 10 25 35 58

Cony 23 39 53 65