AUGUSTA - It was physical. It was an offensive struggle. It was a grind for both teams. You might say it was downright ugly.

But as far as Oxford Hills was concerned Wednesday, it was a thing of beauty.

"If the score was 1-0 at the end and we won, it would have been pretty," said Oxford Hills girls' coach Nate Pelletier.

The Vikings shut down the top-seeded Lawrence Bulldogs and won an Eastern Class A semifinal game for the first time, 49-41. Oxford Hills advances to the regional championship game Friday against Cony.

"It's amazing to do something no Oxford Hills team has done before," said senior guard Kari Pelletier. "It's like a dream right now."

After losing semifinal games in each of the last two years, the Vikings arrived confident and ready to battle. Lawrence only had 13 points in the first half, and the high-scoring Bulldogs were searching for answers.

"This team has a lot of confidence," said Nate Pelletier. "This team knows they can win if the play hard, and that's dangerous for any team they come up against."

It was especially tough for Lawrence. Oxford Hills didn't play the Bulldogs (18-2) in the regular season, but many of the Vikings have competed against the Bulldogs over the years.

"We actually played them multiple times on our travel team," said Kari Pelletier. "So it's always been a rivalry between us. We've beaten them plenty of times, so we knew we could play with them."

The Vikings got into early foul trouble when Pelletier, Megan Joyce, Lindsay Fox and Teira Durgin all picked up two early fouls, but Oxford Hills got outstanding contributions from its bench. Mindy Rugg, Laura Courcy, Caitlin Hanley all came in and gave the Vikings much needed depth against a quick and balanced Bulldog lineup.

"Mindy Rugg doesn't play a whole lot of minutes for us but still goes in and battles with any kid they have," said Nate Pelletier. "She played great minutes. Everybody who came off the bench is playing great minutes for us. They have the attitude that this is the last game and they aren't going to let it be the last game."

Pelletier and Melanie Cloutier each had 13 points for the Vikings (14-6). Megan Joyce added 10. Though Pelletier was scoreless in the first half, the Vikings got offensive contributions to help. Cloutier had two key three-pointers in the second quarter while Fox, Durgin, Joyce and Rugg all chipped in in the first half as the Vikings opened a 17-13 lead.

"With Kari Pelletier double-teamed, it made everyone else really want to step up," said Cloutier.

Lawrence was hindered by a 13-for-44 shooting performance from the floor, including 8-for-33 in the first three quarters. Brogan Liberty led the Bulldogs with 23, 14 coming in the final quarter.

"I think we just missed a lot of shots we've been hitting," said Lawrence coach Jason Pellerin. "They were pretty physical and played hard. Maybe that took us off our game a little bit."

Though the Vikings had eight turnovers in the first quarter, they only trailed 6-4 after one. Cloutier provided a spark in the second with a pair of three-pointers.

"I've been having shooting struggles the last couple of games," said Cloutier. "In our shoot-around this morning, I was still kind of shaky about it, but I tried to relax. Because they were inside-out passes, I had a little more time to look at the hoop, and I just let them go."

The Vikings finished the half with a 7-1 run. Rugg hit a free throw, Fox hit a jumper and Durgin hit two free throws to make it 17-13.

Lawrence missed its first five shots to start the third quarter, and the Vikings got the lead up to 21-15 on a Joyce basket.

Lawrence stayed close, but a late surge by the Vikings made it 26-21 after three. Courcy hit a free throw and Lauren Brett scored off a Pelletier steal and pass.

"Momentum is a funny thing," said Pellerin. "Oxford Hills hit a couple of shots and now momentum is on their side, and we just never got it back."

The Vikings opened the fourth with nine straight to build a 35-21 lead. After two Pelletier free throws, Cloutier hit her third three-pointer of the game. Joyce converted a three-point play, and Pelletier hit another free throw for the lead.

That's all the Vikings needed. Despite the late heroics of Liberty trying to rally the Bulldogs, Lawrence was forced to foul.

Pelletier hit 11 straight free throws in the final minutes to seal it.

"When we were up by like 13, and we were exchanging fouls, I knew we were going to come out victorious," said Kari Pelletier. "Before we came up here, we had a shoot-around. So we got a lot of foul shots up there. So that helped a lot."