AUGUSTA - Who would have ever thought that Oxford County would be a hot bed of Maine basketball in late February?

After regional championship wins by the Oxford Hills girls' basketball team Friday night and the Buckfield team Saturday, Oxford County is one of the few places in the state where high school girls' teams are still active.

"It's actually pretty cool," said senior Buckfield guard Alyssa Henderson. "I think all of us watched them (Friday), and I'm pretty sure most of them were here (Saturday). So that's pretty cool."

Buckfield coach Troy Eastman won't be able to escape the hype surrounding either team this week. His Buckfield girls prepare to play Woodland at the Augusta Civic Center Saturday a 1:05. The Oxford Hills girls' play Deering at 3 p.m. at the Cumberland County Civic Center. Eastman is the assistant principal at the Oxford Hills Middle School.

"We have a nice relationship with Oxford Hills," said Eastman. "The kids played AAU together. They were texting each other all night getting that connection going."

Eastman would love nothing better than the opportunity to scrimmage the Vikings this week, especially since Oxford Hills resembles the Dragons team the Buck face Saturday.

"We can only play teams that are still playing, and we're only 15 miles apart," said Eastman.

Oxford Hills has an opportunity to practice at the Cumberland County Civic Center Monday afternoon. After beating Cony in Augusta, the Vikings now face the challenge of toppling Deering in Portland. That's just another obstacle on top of many the Vikings have already overcome.

"We were going into the last game of the season not knowing what seed we were going to be, whether we'd get a bye or whether we'd have to play a preliminary game," said Oxford Hills coach Nate Pelletier. "Luckily, things worked out, and we got the fifth seed. It would have been easy for us to get the sixth seed. If that would have happened, we would have had to play a preliminary game, and we would not have had Megan (Joyce) or Lindsay (Fox). We could have been out just like that. Not that we would have, but that's how close everything was in our league."

The Vikings overcame injuries woes, beat the top seed from Lawrence and made an unbelievable comeback against Cony Friday. With the Rams hitting outside shots with ease early and Oxford Hills falling behind by double digits, it didn't look promising for the Vikings.

"The nerves got to us in the beginning, but we settled down," said Pelletier. "We were able to pound the ball into Megan, which took some pressure off our guards. They had to double down, and then we started knocking down some shots once again."

Lindsay Fox and Teira Durgin lead an aggressive team defense that laid it all out in the second half against the Rams. It was also a team-wide collection of offense that help spark the rally. Melanie Cloutier, Lauren Brett, Fox, Joyce and Kari Pelletier all had crucial baskets in the second half.

"We've been getting balanced scoring," said Pelletier. "Kari and Megan have been scoring a lot, but we're getting five or six points from everybody else. Everybody's contributing."

To now have a chance at Maine basketball's ultimate prize, it seems a bit surreal for Oxford Hills, but not if you ask the players. When senior Kari Pelletier was asked what the team's goal was to start the year, she didn't hesitate.

"To win the Gold Ball," she said. "It's been our goal since the fifth grade."

Those aspirations appeared in jeopardy at times when the Vikings battled injury after injury, but Oxford Hills is making up for lost time now. EmmyLou Blake is the lone player out of action because of injury.

"It seemed like if one got an injury and they returned, another person would get injured," said Brett. "It just kept going in circles. I'm just glad that we're almost healthy."

The Bucks had similar high hopes for this season, but there wasn't a whole lot of doubt about whether Buckfield would have its chance at a title. It was just a matter of whether the team could live up to the potential it had as the preseason favorite to dominate Western D.

"It feels nice to have been successful in the season," said Eastman. "After leaving last year with an overtime loss to Hyde, where we didn't think we played our best, we really made a commitment in the summertime. We went whitewater rafting. We played games. We did more than just play basketball. That makes this feel nice. All that work, we do things all the time to have an outcome we hope for, but to have it actually come through for these girls is the best part."

Many of the Bucks won the state title in softball, but to do it on the basketball stage is that much more exciting and rewarding.

"Softball was awesome too, but basketball is my sport," said Alyssa Henderson. "That's what I look forward too. To win it in basketball, it's a lot better."

The Bucks only won four games when the three seniors, Alyssa Henderson, Kasey Farrington and Amy Reuter, were freshmen. They seemed worlds away from the team that claimed a title Saturday.

"I wasn't even sure if I was going to keep playing," said Reuter. "I was like 'It's a new year, I might as well try again.' Then we just started getting better. I was like 'Hey, this is great. We're doing good.' We kept going and kept going."