AUGUSTA — They had heard all the doubt.

They were too young. They were too small. They weren’t experienced enough. They had graduated most of their offense.

They were all reasons to question the Edward Little girls’ basketball team this season, but a 15-3 record and second seeding in Eastern A proved that wisdom wrong.

Still, the naysayers then said the Red Eddies couldn’t beat Morse. They had already dropped two regular-season games to the Shipbuilders and nothing different was expected in the KVAC Championship game Monday night.

That wasn’t the mindset of the Red Eddies themselves. EL believed, and it  showed on the court at Cony High School. EL rode a tremendous defensive effort and some timely offense to stun Morse 39-38. It is the second KVAC crown in three years for EL.

“This is really exciting,” said senior forward Miranda Martin. “Even people at school were doubting us, and thought we couldn’t do it. In our minds, we all knew we could beat them.”

EL was playing in its third straight KVAC game, but had lost to Morse 59-47 and 44-36 in the regular season. The Red Eddies had shown glimpses of competing with the 17-1 Shipbuilders, but top-ranked Morse had proven too much in both outings.

“This is a huge win for us going into the playoffs,” said sophomore guard Ashlee Arnold, whose team opens with a quarterfinal against Bangor on Friday night. “We didn’t prove ourselves the last two games, but we proved ourselves tonight.”

Arnold led EL with 16 points while Martin was a force inside with 15. Martin was also superb defensively. Morse’s standout post player Nikoline Ostergaard, who had 23 and 28 in the previous wins, was held to just 11 points. She was shut out in the first half.

“What Miranda Martin did in the first half, holding her to no points, was absolutely a great individual effort,” EL coach Craig Jipson said. “Miranda did a great job.”

The EL defense all around was tremendous. Morse had 15 turnovers in the first half and shot just 4-for-24.

“We came out ready to play,” said Arnold. “That’s what we did. We said they weren’t going to beat us three times.”

Though Morse was down by as many as 16 points in the third quarter, the Shipbuilders were able to rally. Morse settled down offensively and moved the ball effectively in the third and fourth. The Shipbuilders starting hitting shots from the outside. Morse used a 15-4 run to start the fourth. EL missed its first eight shots and turned the ball over six times as Morse made a comeback.

“We knew they were too great of a team that they weren’t going to score and make a run,” said Jipson, who received Coach of the Year honors prior to the game. “They’re a great shooting team and a great offensive team. We were fortunate enough to comeback at the end.”

Ostergaard, the KVAC South Player of the Year, scored seven in the final quarter and put Morse ahead with two free throws with 2:02 left.

EL answered that when Frankie Lally threw the ball down court to Martin for an easy layup on the press breaker. That made it 36-35 with 1:49 left. EL never lost the lead again.

“That pass to Miranda was a big-time pass,” said Jipson.  “We talk about tournament basketball. It’s a gift from God. It’s extra games. You’ve got to be loose and go out and play as hard as you can and what happens happens.”

Morse’s hopes to rally were hampered by five turnovers in the fourth. Arnold had two key steals down the stretch.

“They put the ball in front of me, and I thought I needed to take it,” said Arnold.

One of those steals led to a foul on Kory Norcross. She hit a free throw to make it 37-35 with 1:33 left. After Emma Block hit a free throw for Morse, which hit just 6-of-15 from the line, Lally was fouled with 21 seconds left. She swished them both for a 39-36 lead. Morse got a Tarra Burr basket on a rebound in the closing seconds.

“In games past when it has gone back and forth, we’ve always kept our composure,” said Martin. “That’s a really good thing about this year. We’ve been able to keep our cool. We all knew we’d be fine.”

EL scored the first nine points of the game. The Red Eddies were aggressive on offense and got shots inside from Martin and outside from Arnold. Marykate Masters chipped in as well.

Morse missed its first 10 shots and went 1-for-12 in the first quarter. The Shipbuilders then missed its first three shots of the second quarter and watched Ostergaard pick up her third foul with 5:48 left in the half.

EL had elected to put Martin on Ostergaard, and she did an amazing job denying her any easy looks. It had the Morse offense out of sync and struggling to keep pace as EL built a 22-8 lead by halftime.

“We just thought she might be the only one tall enough to play with Nikoline, and athletic and quick enough too,” said Jipson of Martin, an All-Defensive player in the KVAC.

Morse tried to rally in the third with 3-pointers by Block and Tori Field. Lally answered with a 3, and EL was able to take a 30-20 lead into the fourth.

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