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AUGUSTA — Now there are two championship-caliber basketball teams in Salem Township.

Mt. Abram beat Buckfield 50-38 for the Class D South girls championship Saturday afternoon at the Augusta Civic Center. It’s the first regional title for the program since 2007, when the Roadrunners went on to win the Class C state championship.

Three players scored 10 points or more for the top-seeded Roadrunners (18-3), led by senior guard Jenna Osgood with 15 points. Senior guard Abby McCarty added 13, and sophomore guard Stella Peterson scored 10.

“It’s great,” Osgood said. “We’ve never played here before (as a group), so this has been an amazing experience for us. We’ve been together since our sophomore year, and we’ve built up to this moment. I think our chemistry is just so ready for this moment.”

Mt. Abram’s boys team won the Class C state championship last season and has been to three consecutive regional finals, but it had been a long time since the girls team made it this far.

“(Mt. Abram) is kind of a hidden community, no one expects (championship-level play) from us,” said senior forward Autumn Emery. “So when we do show up, we show up. I think that’s the best part about Mt. Abram, when we do get the chance, we’re here and (the community) is here to support us.”

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Mt. Abram will meet North champion Penobscot Valley at 2:35 p.m. next Saturday in Augusta.

Buckfield (17-4), the No. 2 seed, was led by senior Sarae Devoe, who scored 12 points. Chloee Bennett added seven.

Buckfield ended the first quarter with a 10-9 lead, but the Roadrunners outscored the Bucks 16-6 in the second quarter.

“We’re not one-dimensional, so we’re hard to put a game plan against,” said Mt. Abram coach Jason Wing. “That’s real nice. We’ve got some shooters. We’ve got (forwards) inside. We’ve got guards that can slash and shoot. When our defense gets easy layups (on transition), that certainly helps spread the scoring around as well.”

“We really just stayed together. If we didn’t get the call we wanted, we just kept pushing,” Osgood said. “We just felt like our momentum was swinging from one end to the other. We didn’t get negative, we stayed positive the entire game.”

Mt. Abram’s strength was its defense, which forced 28 turnovers. After taking control in the second quarter, the Roadrunners never lost the lead.

Mt. Abram shot 91.7 percent (11 of 12) from the free-throw line.

“Our defense keeps us in most of the games, we’re a defensive team,” Wing said. “The girls buy into it. We knew (Buckfield) played a 2-3 zone, so we knew (our players would) get a few shots, (and) we tried to get a few turnovers. The last time we played them, we let them kind of lock the ball up in the 2-3, because of the (forwards).”

Dave Dyer is in his second stint with the Kennebec Journal/Morning Sentinel. Dave was previously with the company from 2012-2015 and returned in late 2016. He spent most of 2016 doing freelance sports...

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