For the past few seasons, the Brunswick girls’ basketball team had been knocking on the door to the Class A final.

On Friday night, the Dragons kicked it in.

Emily Doring scored 15 points on five 3-pointers, Lexi Morin added nine, and No. 1 Brunswick took down No. 2 Gray-New Gloucester, 45-23, in the Class A South final at the Portland Expo.

The Dragons, who lost to Greely in the A South final in 2022, improved to 19-2. The Patriots, led by 10 points from Ali Portas, finished 17-4.

“It feels amazing, especially being here with a lot of the players we had last year and my sister (Sophia, a senior),” said Morin, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. “It feels really good to be back in this position. We’re going to states this time, and I couldn’t feel any better.”

Brunswick last made the state final in 2017, losing to Messalonskee. Since then, the Dragons had fallen just short of a return trip, falling in the regional final in 2022, 2019 and 2018 – all three times to Greely.

“It’s just awesome for the girls,” said Dragons Coach Sam Farrell, whose team will meet Lawrence (18-3) in the state title game next Friday at 6 p.m. at the Augusta Civic Center. “Ten of these girls, I’ve coached since they were little. … It’s for them. We’re just so proud of them, and so happy they get to experience it. And you hope for one more.”

During the season, Brunswick lost one game to a Class A opponent – and it was to the Patriots, by a 48-47 score on Jan. 10. According to Farrell, however, the Dragons’ thoughts were less on payback and more on the opportunity to take an exceptional season one step farther.

“This team hasn’t looked backwards all season,” he said. “It’s just who’s next, the next practice has to be the best practice of the year.”

On Friday, the Dragons left little room for suspense. Doring had three 3-pointers while Sophia Morin and Kelsie Carlton also connected from deep as Brunswick got out to a 21-8 lead early in the second quarter. Though eight points from Portas helped the Patriots go into halftime down only eight points at 24-16, the Dragons, sparked by a fourth 3-pointer from Doring, began the third on a 9-2 run to pull away.

Throughout the season, the Dragons have seen different players take the scoring spotlight. This time, it was Doring’s turn.

“We don’t rely on one person,” she said. “We really force it to be as a team, and whoever’s on is who we give the ball to.”

It made for too steep a challenge for the Patriots, who focused on countering Dakota Shipley, Maddy Werner and Brunswick’s inside game.

“We felt going in we were going to make their outside shooters beat us, because their inside’s so good,” said Gray-New Gloucester Coach Mike Andreasen. “We rolled the dice, and unfortunately we lost.”

Meanwhile, Lexi Morin added four rebounds and four steals for Brunswick, while Werner and Sophia Morin added seven points apiece. The Patriots hopes for a comeback fizzled with a seven-point second half that left Andreasen tipping his hat.

“In the second half, they just turned up the defensive pressure. They got into passing lanes, and our kids were not making shots,” he said. “If you don’t make shots against a team like Brunswick, you have no chance.”

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