By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

AUGUSTA – For more than a decade, it has been somebody’s dream.

Teams like Madison, Carrabec, Old Orchard Beach, Winthrop, Jay, Boothbay and Hall-Dale have all had the opportunity and failed to dethrone the Dirigo girls’ basketball team.

At times Saturday night, it appeared the top-ranked Hall-Dale Bulldogs might remain among those frustrated masses, but a late-game rally finally made those championship hopes happen. Hall-Dale roared back in the closing minutes of regulation to end the Cougars’ historic 11-year reign in Western Maine Class C with a 40-38 victory at the Augusta Civic Center.

“It’s crazy,” said senior guard Heather St. Pierre, whose two 3’s helped breath life into the Bulldog comeback.

“We’re so excited that we won. We’ve been looking at Dirigo the last few years. We wanted to be the team to beat them.”

Hall-Dale (20-1) lost the previous two regional finals to the Cougars but had beaten Dirigo twice this season, once in the regular season and in the MVC championship game. The Cougars (17-4) produced a fantastic effort in defense of their dynasty but couldn’t halt the Bulldogs final push.

“They left their hearts out on the floor, no question about that,” said Dirigo coach Gavin Kane. “The effort was tremendous. Unfortunately, when you get into a big ballgame like this a couple of turnovers late in the ballgame and a couple of missed free throws come into play.”

The Cougars had won 39 of its last 40 games at the Augusta Civic Center while making Maine basketball history with 11 straight regional crowns. Hall-Dale had also ended the Cougars streak of 124 straight regular season wins and 136 straight victories over MVC foes.

“The kids are obviously upset,” said Kane. “Most of them are in tears. It’s tough for them to realize the success we’ve had over the years and that this is the first time we’re not going on to the state championship. I feel like they feel like they’ve let down some people, but they have nothing to hang their heads about.”

Caitlyn Laflin led the Bulldogs with 20 points, including 15 of her team’s 19 at the half, and was named the tournament’s most outstanding player. Dirigo got 13 points each from Michelle Holmquist and Holly Knight while Shannon Daley had a superb effort with nine points and a fine defensive game.

“I think Shannon Daley absolutely played a tremendous game,” said Kane. “That’s as tired as I’ve seen Caitlyn Laflin at the end of a ballgame. I attribute that to how hard Shannon worked defensively.”

The Cougars were up by six with less than five minutes to go and had the chance to add to that with Holmquist at the line. She missed both free throws, and Hall-Dale came right back with a 3-pointer from Heather St. Pierre that cut the deficit in half.