By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

AUGUSTA – It isn’t just a matter of strategy.

The Dirigo girls’ basketball team doesn’t smother you with its defense because it has to but because it wants to.

Some teams might be intimidated or even overwhelmed about having to stop a prolific scorer or two. Dirigo welcomes the opportunity and the challenge. The Cougars take it personal and make it their mission.

“There seems to be something that’s always been there right on down the line,” said Dirigo coach Gavin Kane. “They always seem to get up for that challenge.”

Whether it has been Boothbay’s Katie Sibley, Old Orchard’s Jen Tulley, Jay’s Kaylie DeMillo or Hall-Dale’s Caitlyn Laflin and Chelsea Dionne, the Cougars have been adamant about making a defensive stand and statement. Nothing speaks louder than 11 straight Western Maine Class C championships.

The Cougar defense put a stop to Hall-Dale’s championship hopes Saturday. The Cougars disrupted the Bulldogs offense and limited the damage of both Laflin and Dionne in a 43-32 victory at the Augusta Civic Center. Dirigo maintained its domination of Western Maine Class C, winning its 37th game in its last 38 tries at Augusta, and advances to Friday’s state title game in Bangor.

“We definitely take it as something of an accomplishment,” said Dirigo senior guard Alexa Kaubris. “I know Michelle (Holmquist) and Holly (Knight) were pumped up about it. They knew they had a tough job ahead of them. They just went in there and were awesome.”

Dionne finished with 14 points while Laflin had 10. Both players had averaged 20 points apiece during the tournament. Through the first half, the Cougars held Laflin to just four points while Dionne had eight.

“It’s a matter of personal pride,” said Kane. “I actually heard our kids talk about not allowing them to score anywhere near 20 points. I think it boils down to them just wanting to shut that player down.”

Dirigo (21-0) got 18 points from Kaubris, earning her a second straight Robin Colcord Award presented to the C tournament’s most outstanding player. Holmquist added nine points and Brooke Weston chipped in eight.

While the defense was constant, the offense had its ups and downs. Dirigo had to overcome a second quarter lull that allowed Hall-Dale (18-3) to close an early Cougar lead. Dirigo settled down in the second half and managed to open the lead a second time.

“We knew we didn’t really need to rush it,” said Kaubris. “We’re pretty confident with our game now. It’s been a couple of years now that we’ve been together. So we understand how sometimes things always don’t go as we want, but we’ll have someone like Holly or Michelle or Brooke step up and make a basket.”

Though the offense didn’t pick up steam until the second half, the Cougars stingy play on the Bulldogs set the tone early. Like it did against Jay in the semifinal, the Cougars used a halfcourt trap to pressure and frustrate the Bulldogs.

“We wanted to get a lot of pressure on the ball and keep them off the boards if the shot went up,” said guard Katherine Gagne. “We just wanted to keep pressure on their guards. So maybe we’d get some unforced turnovers.”

Hall-Dale was held to its lowest point total all year and 16 points below its average. The Bulldogs also had nearly 20 turnovers, including a dozen in the second half. Dirigo felt if it could limit Laflin’s touches on the ball, the Cougars could limit Hall-Dale’s output.

“I thought we did a great job on her,” said Kane. “I thought the combination of our traps and Michelle Holmquist doing a very nice job defensively in our man-to-man was a big key to the ballgame.”

Hall-Dale coach Sam Hayes says his club didn’t adjust to the pressure well and didn’t get the ball to its bigger players amidst the trap. In the halfcourt, the Bulldogs struggled to get the consistent looks they wanted. The Bulldogs also were plagued by foul trouble. Laflin had three fouls in the first half while Dionne picked up her third in the third quarter. Both earned their fourth fouls early in the final quarter.

“We got the ball into the post quite a bit, but they were running two or three people at our post players,” said Hayes. “We didn’t hit the diagonal very well. If we could have hit the diagonal, we might have been able to get some open shots.”

While Dirigo’s defense was primed from the start, it took a little kickstarting to get the offense going. The Cougars raced out to a 12-4 lead in the first half but watched Hall-Dall rally and tie it after eight straight points.

Dirigo missed its first 10 shots of the second quarter and didn’t score until 2:21 remained in the half. A fast break basket by Kaubris and a three-point play by Holmquist made it 17-12, but a Beth Brann basket made it 17-14 at the half.

“We needed to adjust from playing so hard on the defensive end to mentally doing what we needed to do on the offensive end,” said Kane. “We’d expend so much energy on the defensive end that we’d get to the offensive end and just stand.”

A Dionne free throw started the second half, putting the Bulldogs within 17-15, but six straight points opened the lead.

“He wanted us to keep up the intensity and keep playing 100 percent, and never give up and always play hard,” said Gagne.

Weston scored on a steal, and Holmquist followed with a jumper from the corner. Mallory Child found Knight alone at the foul line for a jumper and a 23-15 lead.

“Obviously, the first four minutes of the third quarter, any coach will tell you that they’re the most important minutes of the game,” said Hayes. “There’s no question that it is. We had a couple of turnovers, and they capitalized on every mistake we made.”

A Kaubris jumper off a fast break had the lead up to nine with 2:56 left in the third. Hall-Dale got within five points twice in the final minutes of that quarter but two Kaubris free throws made it 29-22 to start the fourth.

Then Kaubris opened the final quarter scoring off an inbounds pass. Holmquist sank two free throws and the lead was 33-22.

Hall-Dale got within nine twice in the final quarter, but Dirigo answered with a Weston pull-up jumper and a Knight basket on a Holmquist feed.