By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer

BANGOR – Monday night’s Eastern Class A girls’ basketball championship was a classic nature-defeats-nurture demonstration.

Even the most impeccably groomed perimeter shooters like Skowhegan’s gunnery can go cold inside Bangor Auditorium. Six-footers such as Cony’s Katie Rollins, Cassie Cooper and Rachael Mack, meanwhile, never shrink.

Rollins, a 6-2 senior who’s headed for Division I Harvard University, scored 25 points, hauled down 10 rebounds, dished out three assists and blocked three shots as No. 1 Cony overwhelmed No. 2 Skowhegan 65-48 in the final sectional tournament game on this historic court.

Add 6-1 sophomore Cooper (13 points, 10 rebounds) and 6-foot freshman Mack (nine points, four boards) and it was a long night for Skowhegan. And senior point guard Bri Rende was equally brilliant, quarterbacking the attack with 17 points and seven boards.

“Eastern Maine champs two years in a row feels pretty great. Skowhegan has been a competitive team with us,” said Rollins. “I think it might be a little bit of an advantage that we’ve played them so much.”

Played here so much, too. The win gave Cony its third regional title in four seasons and ninth overall, all since 1987. Tied for a distant second: Mt. Blue and Lawrence, each with four championships.

Cony swept its regular-season series with Skowhegan in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference by an average of 16 points. The Indians avenged their only two losses with a two-point triumph in the KVAC championship at Auburn on Feb. 26.

While Cony (21-0, not counting the KVAC championship exhibition) cashed in high-percentage shots all night, Skowhegan (18-3) struggled to stay above the 30 percent mark from the floor.

Senior Megan Franklin led the Indians with 17 points. Bethany Sevey dropped in a dozen, including three 3-pointers.

Rollins racked up seven points in a 44-second span of the third quarter. That included a three-point play with 3:12 remaining that essentially put the hardware in Cony’s crowded trophy case.

The Miss Basketball finalist knocked down a 10-footer from the right baseline. Sevey then drew a technical foul when she fell to the floor, didn’t hear a whistle and protested the non-call. Rollins hit the first of two ensuing free throws.

She scored two more inside buckets before quarter’s end.

“Our halftime talk was that we thought we could play better,” Rollins said. “We had to pick up the intensity.”

Cony led 28-23 at the half.

The lead changed hands five times before Cony asserted itself with a 12-1 run and raced to a double-digit lead early in the second quarter.

Franklin and sophomore Megan Smith collaborated to keep the Indians in it, hooking up for 10 of Skowhegan’s 12 points in the second stanza. Danielle Miller tacked on the final two, a pair of free throws with one second to play.