AUGUSTA – There are no secrets about where the strength of the Woodland girls basketball team resides. The Dragons have looked inside all season, and hoped to take advantage of their two talented post players against Valley in Saturday’s Class D state championship game.

Woodland’s inside game turned out to be more than an advantage. It ended up as more like a domination.

Sophomore Courtney Cochran racked up 24 points and 21 rebounds, while senior Michelle Ferry chipped in with 10 points and 13 rebounds to power the Dragons to a 52-43 victory over the Cavaliers of Bingham at the Augusta Civic Center.

The Dragons also got fine play from their guards and overcame the stellar effort of Valley senior Kristin Baker.

Although Baker poured in 28 points, including a halfcourt buzzer-beater at halftime, the rangy 5-11 Cochran hit 10 of her 18 shots, including at least five offensive-rebound putbacks.

“I got into foul trouble in the first quarter and that let Courtney play a lot more,” said the 5-10 Ferry. “She played really tough. Courtney did well and we played well as a team.”

Valley’s own senior center, 5-10 Jeri-Dee Fitzmaurice, finished with seven points and one rebound and got into foul trouble early in the first quarter. That limited the Cavaliers’ ability to clog up the inside in their 1-2-2 zone.

“We knew we had a height advantage and we needed to use it because they had shooters and we had the inside game,” Cochran said. “We had to come out and take advantage of what we had and we did that.”

Valley was without 5-9 senior forward Sandra Porter for much of the game. Porter was sick to her stomach on the bus ride to Augusta, Cavaliers coach Gordon Hartwell said.

If she had played, she likely would have guarded Cochran.

“We just didn’t have as much reach on the boards,” Hartwell said. “We had a couple of lapses where we didn’t box out real well … and that hurt us, too.”

Baker, who scored a record-breaking 82 points in the Western Maine tournament, hit five 3-pointers Saturday.

Her buzzer-beater tied the game at 28-28 and was a momentum-killer for Woodland. The Dragons had pulled away earlier in the second quarter as Cochran put back a rebound, then hit a short jumper and drew a foul, completing a three-point play for a 28-22 lead.

Baker hit a jump shot to cut it to 28-25, and then threw up a shot from just over the halfcourt line in front of the scorer’s table. Woodland’s Katie Murphy, who did a solid job hassling Baker all game, was caught off-guard.

“I just didn’t think she was going to take it. It came out of nowhere, and she made it,” Murphy said. “I was pretty surprised on that one.”

Baker drilled another 3-pointer with 47.3 seconds left in the third to cut Woodland’s lead to 38-35.

Woodland’s first two baskets of the fourth quarter were Cochran putbacks. Two Ferry free throws gave the Dragons a 44-36 lead, and Woodland hung on despite three Baker baskets later in the period.

She drained another 3-pointer but the Dragons countered with perfect free-throw shooting in the final 2:35. Baker missed a 3-point attempt with less than three seconds left.

“We’d gotten momentum back [at halftime] but the thing is, to be even with them we’d had to do some extraordinary things,” Hartwell said. “… How many of those do you have in you in a particular game?”

Woodland senior Lacey Gillespie scored eight of her 10 points in the first half.

DRAGONS 52,CAVALIERS 43

Woodland (21-1) Valley (21-1)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Gillespie 4 10 2 2 10 Baker 11 29 28

Torrey 0 6 4 4 4 Porter 0 0 0

Ferry 4 15 2 2 10 Plourd 0 8 0

Cochran 10 18 4 8 24 Brown 0 0 0

Murphy 2 5 0 2 4 Staples 1 3 4

Ebneter 2 4 0 4

Fitzmrce 2 5 7

Totals 20 54 12 18 52 Totals 16 49 43

Woodland 14 28 38 52

Valley 13 28 36 43

3-pt. goals – Woodland (0-1): Torrey 0-1; Valley (6-18): Baker 5-13, Staples 1-3, Plourd 0-2