AUGUSTA - St. Dom's didn't play like a girls' basketball team merely content to be here. Problem is, Madison didn't play like a team satisfied to stop here.

No. 1 Madison stormed into its first Western Class C championship game in 14 years, mashing the accelerator late in the second quarter and speeding to a 69-24 semifinal rout of the No. 1 Saints at Augusta Civic Center.

"We knew we were in for a fight," said St. Dom's coach Paul Rheaume, who guided the Saints to their first-ever win at the civic center Tuesday against Hebron Academy. "When they went on that quick run in the third quarter, it kind of took the air out of the kids."

Quick, it really wasn't. Madison's third period, in totality, was a 26-5 turn of events that embellished a 33-17 halftime lead to 59-22.

St. Dom's (12-9) scored only seven points after the break.

Madison will meet Monmouth at 7 p.m. Saturday in a one-versus-two, all-Mountain Valley Conference final. The Saints' loss keeps alive a streak that has seen no Western Maine Conference team capture the Class C regional title since Wells in 1979.

Bottled up for most of the first half, Briann Emery and Margo Russell conducted a low-post clinic and combined for 15 points in the fateful third period.

Russell, a senior and 1,000-point career scorer, led all scorers with 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Emery concluded with 15 points, five assists and five steals.

Lacey Ashbrook (12 points) and Mykayla Stoutamyer (10) combined for four of Madison's five 3-pointers. Emery sank the other.

"The threes have really helped us all season long to open up the middle," Russell said.

The Bulldogs owned a pedestrian, single-digit lead until Mykayla Stoutamyer nailed a 3-pointer from the left corner with 2:36 remaining in the half.

Three free throws by Russell, an Ashbrook deuce courtesy of the offensive glass, and a short jumper in the paint from Bianca Stoutamyer nearly doubled the lead in short order.

Madison scored the first nine points of the second half in a span of 1:26 to put it away.

"I thought we had to put pressure on the guards, fronting the post and not giving them anything easy, and I thought we did that for most of the game," said Madison coach Al Veneziano, who guided the Bulldogs to their only previous regional title in 1994.

Freshman Allaina Murphy scored eight points to lead the Saints, who eliminated two of the top five seeds to reach the penultimate round. Kelsey Murphy added six points.

St. Dom's committed 42 turnovers and shot 10-of-48 from the field.

"They're a great team. They really are. The Russell girl is tough," said Rheaume. "We just couldn't cover her. Or they would kick it out and make the threes."