Fortunately for the Waterville Senior High School girls' basketball team, its defense held water more efficiently Friday night than the inverted, V-shaped roof at aging Bangor Auditorium.

Undeterred by a 20-minute delay at the start and constant towel runs throughout, the Purple Panthers completed their second straight undefeated Class B championship season with a 54-35 rout of Lake Region.

Last year, the moisture of choice was perspiration, with the Panthers pulling out a 52-51 overtime victory over the Lakers to grab the title in Portland.

The bizarre backdrop of two Waterville students running onto the court to soak up the troublesome drip provided the most drama in the rematch. Down by nine early, the Panthers (22-0) roared back to take command with a run of 14 unanswered points spanning the end of the second period and the first two minutes of the third.

"It was a little bit like a prize fight where we got hit with a roundhouse right in the first round and went down," said Waterville coach Ted Rioux. "We got up, and I knew these girls would. Once we got our confidence defensively, I knew our confidence would come offensively."

Waterville hit 9-of-12 from the field in the third quarter after protecting a slim 21-20 lead at the half.

Foul trouble haunted Lake Region (19-3), and the Lakers' attempts to double down on junior center Morgan Frame unraveled when other Panthers stepped into the spotlight, en masse.

Frame finished with a team-high 14 points and nine rebounds, a far cry from her 23 points and 22 boards in last year's final. Jen Nale added 12 points, Stephanie Whitten 10 and Sarah Given nine for Waterville. Given is the lone senior in the starting lineup.

"We said at halftime we were only psyching them out," said Frame, "because we definitely hadn't played our game."

Nale, Whitten, Frame and Given spread out the scoring evenly during a decisive 22-6 gain in the third period.

Lake Region lost Erica Webb for an extended stretch after she picked up her fourth foul with 6:30 remaining in the third quarter.

Renee Nicholas, a spark plug at both ends of the floor for the Lakers, also concluded the first half with three personals. Nicholas didn't foul out until late in the game, but her ability to fuel the smothering defense that landed Lake Region its early lead was clearly hampered.

Nicholas led Lake Region with 16 points, eight rebounds and three steals.

After a 6-for-9 start that yielded the 16-7 advantage four minutes into the game, Lake Region was a frosty 8-of-41 for the duration.

Waterville encountered its own problems in the first half, when Frame (nine points) was the only Panther to hit more than a single field goal.

"It was tough. We just knew we had to kick it out and move the ball around a lot," Frame said.

Lake Region lost in the state final for the third straight year.

Presque Isle turned away the Lakers here in 2006.