BANGOR – In years past, Cony coach Paul Vachon said, a Skowhegan-Cony regional final would have been a “shootout at the OK Corral,” with shots flying from all over the court.

“Thay’s not the way we are anymore,” Vachon said. “We like to go inside first, then out. (Skowhegan) is the other way around.”

Top-seeded Cony went inside early and often, and persistence paid off. The Rams overcame some early shooting woes with a steady diet of Katie Rollins and Cassie Cooper in the paint to secure their second regional title in three years with a 51-44 win over No. 2 Skowhegan Saturday at the Bangor Auditorium.

Rollins, a 6-2 junior, finished with 25 points and seven rebounds. When she wasn’t posting up on the block, she was working the high-low with Cooper, a 6-1 freshman who finished with 15 points and 11 boards.

“It’s a good one-two punch to have. I think a lot of people would like to have it,” Vachon said. “It’s a first-year combo, so there are still a lot of adjustments to be made, and they’ve got another year to do it.”

“We mixed things up a little bit defensively to deal with their size and tried to throw a couple of people at them and make them beat us from the perimeter,” said Skowhegan coach Paul True. “Obviously, they had too much of a size advantage inside and they did a great job of getting it in to Katie and Cassie.”

Defense controlled the first half, as both teams struggled from the floor. Cony (33 percent shooting) pounded the ball inside effectively, but Rollins and Cooper had difficulty finishing under the basket. But Skowhegan (22 percent) couldn’t find the range from the outside, so Cony maintained a seven-point lead at the end of both the first and second quarters.

Cony (21-0) built that good lead by feeding the ball inside to Rollins. The center scored the Rams’ first nine points of the quarter, then made a nice pass over the top of the defense to Cooper for a layup that made it 34-22 with 3:33 left in the third quarter.

rwhitehouse@sunjournal.com

Bethany Sevey (six points) and Nicole Paradis (13 points) began heating up from the perimeter just in time to keep the Indians (18-3) in the game and maintain the seven-point deficit after three.

Skowhegan got as close as six on a jumper by Kayla Thompson (14 points, 11 rebounds) with little over a minute left in the game. But a coast-to-coast layup by Natalie Nimon, her only points of the game, put the Indians away.

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