AUGUSTA – The Mount Desert Island girls basketball team may have hoisted the gold ball Saturday night, but Melissa Gott has had one of her own for much of the regular season and the playoffs.

It’s actually a gold ball charm that she wears around her neck – a gift from her grandmother after Gott scored her 1,000th point earlier this year. Although the Trojans got this far on defense and the steady play of their five starters, the charm certainly gave Gott something to believe in after she had fouled out of the Class B girls state championship game at the Augusta Civic Center.

As she has in other games, Gott sat on the bench and took the necklace from freshman coach Tina Jewett, who wears it during games. With her high school career over, Gott wore the necklace for the rest of the game as she watched her sister, Shelley Gott, and point guard Bracey Barker shoot free throws en route to a 42-30 victory over Western Maine champion Gray-New Gloucester.

“I couldn’t have ended my season any better,” Melissa Gott said.

Melissa Gott scored a game-high 13 points and was a part of a zone defense that shut down one of the state’s top juniors in the lowest-scoring Class B championship game ever. The Patriots’ 30 points is the fewest ever scored in a Class B state game.

All eyes were on Katie Whittier, Gray-New Gloucester’s 6-foot-2 center who averaged 23 points per game in the Western Maine tournament. She was playing on a sprained right ankle that she injured in practice Monday.

Going against MDI’s 2-3 zone, Whittier scored a team-high eight points. Six-footers Josalee Danieli and Sarah DeLuca, the team’s only senior, combined for 13.

Forgotten in all the pregame hype, MDI coach Burt Barker said, was the potential for Melissa Gott to stop Whittier.

“She came through big. I think that you can thank Bracey [Burt Barker’s daughter] and Melissa down low,” he said. “Bracey was just sagging and doubling. Beth Chernosky, even though she’s just 5-8, did a nice job of blocking the lanes, and the guards out front did a nice job of clogging the high post.”

Unable to penetrate with regularity, the Patriots never got into a rhythm from the perimeter and didn’t get into the running game they played so well in the regional tournament.

“[MDI] slowed it down, played a good game,” Gray-New Gloucester coach Ken Butler said. “They’re a good, solid club, but they’re not a run-and-gun club and I thought we would run better. They got back very well, they hustled.”

Melissa Gott grabbed nine rebounds (eight defensive).

Shelley Gott scored 13 points and had four assists. Bracey Barker added eight points and six rebounds.

The Trojans led for almost the entire game and set the tone early. Whittier and DeLuca each picked up their first foul in just over two minutes of play. Shelley Gott pumped in two 3-pointers from the left wing and the Trojans outscored the Patriots 19-9 in the first half.

MDI received third-quarter jumpers from Kara Horton and Beth Chernosky, who had five rebounds.

In the fourth quarter MDI took a 32-21 lead with 5:10 left thanks to two free throws each from the Gott sisters.

But Melissa Gott was whistled for her fourth foul with 5:45 left in the game and fouled out with 4:56 to play. Whittier, who was playing with four fouls, stayed in the game.

Gray-NG took advantage, popping off a 6-0 run thanks to baskets from Danieli, Ross, and DeLuca, to make it 32-27.

That ended as DeLuca and sub Dawn Ross each earned their fourth foul, and Whittier picked up her fifth with 3:16 to go. The Trojans shot free throws the rest of the way, going 11-for-21 from the line overall in the fourth quarter.

“We made some of them, at least,” Shelley Gott said with a laugh.

Shelley Gott and Bracey Barker each had four of those. A Tanya Kane layup pushed the Trojans’ lead to 11 points with 1:37 left in the fourth quarter.

The Patriots had never been to a state championship before, and had just won their first regional title last Friday. More than 5,000 people packed into the Civic Center and Gray-NG brought along the school’s jazz band, which usually does not play at basketball games.

Trojans 42, Patriots 30

MDI girls (20-3) Gray-NG (17-5)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG F AF TP

Chernosky 1 5 0 1 2 Herrick 0 0 0

Osier 0 0 0 0 0 Sherwood 0 1 0

Stanley 0 0 0 0 0 Barker 1 2 0 3

Horton 1 3 0 0 3 Young 0 1 0 0

S. Gott 3 9 4 10 12 C. Whittier 0 5 0

Barker 2 6 4 6 8 Danieli 3 6 1 7

Baldwin 0 0 0 0 0 K. Whittier 4 13 8

Kane 1 3 2 4 4 Ross 2 10 0 4

M. Gott 5 12 3 7 13 DeLuca 3 9 0 6

Kennedy 1 5 0 2

Totals 13 38 13 28 42 14 52 1 30

MDI 9 19 24 42

Gray-New Gloucester 5 9 17 30

3-pt. goals: MDI (3-7): S. Gott 2-5, Horton 1-1, Barker 0-1; Gray-New Gloucester (1-7): Barker 1-2, DeLuca 0-1, Kennedy 0-1, Ross 0-3