Mt. Ararat celebrates after beating Hampden Academy, 43-31, to win the Class A girls basketball state championship on Friday in Augusta. It was the first state title in program history for the Eagles. Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald

AUGUSTA — Cali Pomerleau brought the ball up the court as the final seconds ticked away in the Class A girls basketball championship game, then passed it over to Kennedy Lampert, the two looking at each other with joyous, almost disbelieving smiles.

After a season spent as the team to beat, it was finally time for Mt. Ararat to celebrate.

Julianna Allen scored 17 points and added 12 rebounds in a dominant showing, Lampert and Jenna Jensen added seven points apiece, and the Eagles won their first state title Friday night with a 43-31 victory over Hampden Academy at the Augusta Civic Center.

“It feels amazing. I’m kind of speechless,” said Allen, whose play on both ends of the floor helped the Eagles take command of a two-point game in the second half. “(There) definitely was a chip on the shoulder, especially after last year. We didn’t want to come here just to lose, it’s a bus ride home. We came here, coming to win.”

Mt. Ararat (20-2) made program history last year by reaching its first Class A South final. After losing to rival Brunswick, but with all five starters returning, the determination to win it all set in well before the season’s opening tip.

“We followed through the process,” said Pomerleau, a senior captain who scored five points. “We worked hard all season long, I’m proud of all my teammates. It’s such an amazing accomplishment. … I’m just so happy. I can’t express it.”

Eve Wiles had eight points to lead the Broncos (16-6), who started three sophomores and had one senior, and who struggled against Mt. Ararat’s pressure.

“It just made it hard for us to get into a rhythm offensively,” Hampden Academy coach Nick Winchester said. “And even when we did get shots, they were so well defended and contested. We just had to work for everything.”

That was the message all week, Lampert said.

“Pressure, pressure, pressure, get up in their face and see where that leads us,” she said with a smile. “Push them to the edge and kick them off.”

The game, though, started at Hampden’s preferred pace. Mt. Ararat led 14-12 after a low-scoring and methodical first half. That suited the Broncos, who had a height advantage but were worried about Mt. Ararat’s quickness.

“I felt that game needed to be played in the high 30s, low 40s,” Winchester said.

The Eagles had more turnovers (eight) than made baskets (six) in the first half.

“Jitters, it’s a big game, there’s a lot on the line,” Mt. Ararat coach Julie Petrie said. “We had a positive talk in the locker room and said ‘Look, we’re in good shape. We’re not even playing our best game, and we’re up. … We just need to play our game.'”

In the second half, that meant a whole lot of the 6-foot-1 Allen, who used her height, length, quickness and footwork to take control. After Kayleigh Wagg (five points) scored the first three points of the third quarter for Mt. Ararat, Allen slipped inside for a layup and then had a step-through for a basket, making it 21-14.

“I knew when (Grace LaBree) wasn’t in, it was a mismatch down low,” Allen said. “My teammates did a good job getting me the ball, and I could go to work down there.”

Hampden got a basket from LaBree and then a jumper from Wiles to pull within 25-21, prompting an Eagles timeout with 7:14 to play. But Allen again swung momentum back to Mt. Ararat. She spun inside for a layup, then had a steal two possessions later and finished in transition to put the Eagles ahead by eight.

Allen scored eight of the Eagles’ first 15 points of the second half.

“You get a kid who’s not only 6-1, but very comfortable with her left hand. She finished with her left probably half of those shots,” Winchester said. “I thought she took over the game in the third and asserted herself, and I thought that was the space, from a points standpoint, that they needed to stretch the game a little bit.”

Hampden cut the deficit to 29-24 on an Aubrey Shaw 3-pointer with 4:38 to go but didn’t score over the next 2:51. Mt. Ararat, meanwhile, sank 12 of 14 free throws after the Broncos narrowed the gap to five.

“We love the foul line,” Lampert said. “We practice, practice, practice them every day. We take at least 100 or more foul shots every practice.”

With the Eagles calm and collected at the line, the final minute became a coronation.

“Every coach says, ‘They’re the best team,’ but they’re real,” Petrie said of her players. “They have the best chemistry, we love each other, we trust each other. They’re coachable. They’re the dream team.”