AUGUSTA – Poor spacing, bad shooting, turnovers – the Woodland girls basketball team simply didn’t play well early in Monday evening’s Class D state championship game.

The Dragons got things turned around in plenty of time, however, for their fourth gold ball since 2001 in a 59-45 victory over previously undefeated Buckfield at the Augusta Civic Center.

“We had to come together as a team and start playing together,” Woodland senior Courtney Cochran said. “It was sloppy basketball. That was like the worst basketball we’ve played in a while.”

Cochran, a 6-foot center and the MVP of the Eastern Maine regional tournament, came through with another fine performance and another double-double for Woodland, this time pouring in 21 points and grabbing 17 rebounds.

As the Woodland players gathered at one end of the Civic Center to mingle with fans and have pictures taken with the gold ball, they were aware of their early struggles against the Bucks.

“We were definitely nervous coming into this game and I think we were intimidated when we were behind,” said senior guard Rachel Torrey, who scored 10 points and had four steals. “But we picked up our defense and just came back.”

Cochran, Torrey and backup Cindy Bergin, who had a good night off the bench when Cochran got into foul trouble in the third quarter, were all sophomores on Woodland’s 2006 title team.

Buckfield took a 9-1 lead in the first quarter after Alyssa Henderson dropped in a 3-pointer. The two teams combined for nine turnovers and were 0-for-10 from the field in the first 4 minutes, 20 seconds.

“I thought our spacing was awful the first quarter,” Woodland coach Arnie Clark said. “We turned the ball over eight times, which is not like us. … We weren’t coming to the ball, we weren’t where we were supposed to be. We were playing awful.”

Even though Woodland was down by eight points, the Bucks were having their own issues. They struggled against Woodland’s full-court 1-2-2 zone press, racking up 19 turnovers in the first quarter alone.

“That’s been our trademark all year,” Clark said. “We just keep putting pressure on them. Eventually you’re up by two, then you’re up by four, then you’re up by six. … That’s what defensive pressure does to you.”

Buckfield also got into foul trouble. The Bucks were called for their seventh team foul with 39.6 seconds left in the first quarter, sending Woodland into the bonus early. Five Buckfield players had two fouls and one had three at halftime.

“We knew they liked to foul, so we took it right at them and scored on them,” Cochran said. “It worked out in the end.”

The Dragons didn’t shoot well from the free-throw line but made enough foul shots to climb back into the game. Ariel Knights (10 points, five steals) had two free throws to cut Buckfield’s lead to 13-11 with 14.6 seconds left in the period, and then she stole the ball and passed to Ashley Laking (nine points), who tied it with about two seconds remaining.

Torrey gave Woodland the lead for good with a baseline jumper early in the second. The Dragons were up four points at halftime and reeled off eight unanswered to start the third.

The Bucks wouldn’t go away, however, and chipped into what had been an 18-point Woodland lead. Cochran picked up her fourth foul with 3:10 left in the third and went to the bench. Buckfield took advantage and got the lead back to 10 points but couldn’t get any closer.

“Early on I thought we played free and aggressive, got up and down the court a little bit,” Buckfield coach Troy Eastman said. “In the second half I think we were worried about picking up our fourth foul, our next foul, and I think mentally it [took] a little toll.”

There were plenty of fouls all around – Woodland made 21 of its 36 free-throw attempts, while Buckfield was 12-for-22.

Alyssa Henderson and Lindsey Henderson each had 11 points for the Bucks, who did a fine rebounding job despite Cochran’s height advantage. Lindsey Henderson had six rebounds. Alyssa Henderson had five boards and five steals. Kasey Farrington had a team-high nine rebounds.

jbloch@bangordailynews.net

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DRAGONS 59, BUCKS 45

Woodland (19-3) Buckfield (21-1)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Laking 4 7 1 4 9 S. Jones 0 2

Boomer 0 0 0 0 0 L. Hndrsn 4 10 3 7 11

Knights 2 8 6 11 10 Abbott 0 0 0

Torrey 3 13 4 6 10 A. Hndrsn 4 11

McGinley 0 0 0 0 0 Hamann 3 11 7

Nicholas 2 8 0 0 4 Reuter 0 0 0

Cochran 6 14 9 12 21 A. Jones 1 2

Bergin 2 2 1 2 5 Farrington 1 4

Parks 0 1 0 0 0 Newton 2 2 4

White 0 1 0 1 0 Eastman 1 5 2

Marker 0 0 0 0 0 Patrie 0 0 0

Carlile 0 0 0 0

Martin 0 1 2 2

Totals 19 54 21 36 59 Totals 16 50 12 22 45

Woodland 13 26 47 59

Buckfield 13 22 35 45

3-pt. goals – Woodland (0-1): Knights 0-1; Buckfield (1-4): A. Henderson 1-4