High school sports coverage is proudly supported by Maine State Credit Union. 

Gold Balls are at stake on Friday and Saturday in the five games remaining in the Maine high school girls basketball season.

Oceanside and Lawrence play for the Class B title Friday in Bangor. Cross Insurance Arena hosts the Class A final between Cheverus and Hampden Academy on Saturday, and the Augusta Civic Center has three girls finals on Saturday: Spruce Mountain and Mattanawcook Academy in Class C, Mt. Abram and Penobscot Valley in Class D, and Valley and Wisdom in Class S.

Here are some storylines going into the weekend:

Miss Maine finalists go for gold

The three players in the running for the Miss Maine Basketball award will have a chance to provide some state championship heroics this weekend.

Finalists for the award were announced Monday, with Kylie Lamson of Cheverus, Lawrence’s Maddie Provost and Mattanawcook Academy’s Addison Cyr making the cut. While the votes have already been cast, each finalist will get to play for a state championship in front of a statewide audience.

Lamson leads Cheverus into the Class A final against Hampden Academy. Her scoring dipped this winter during the regular season, but in three regional tournament games, she put up 58 points while knocking down eight 3-pointers.

Provost was the KVAC’s top scorer in the regular season at 26.7 points per game for the Bulldogs, who take on an Oceanside program seeking its third Class B title in five years. Provost is averaging 24.7 points in the postseason and surpassed the 20-point threshold in all three Lawrence games. Like Lamson, she’s knocked down eight shots from beyond the arc.

Cyr has been a force inside for the undefeated Lynx, who will play Spruce Mountain for the C title. She’s averaged 15.7 points and 11 rebounds in the tournament.

Class A: Vengeance and redemption

Class A foes Cheverus and Hampden Academy have more in common than an affinity for purple. Both teams came into the season with scores to settle — and both did.

The Stags were eager for payback after falling in the AA final to South Portland last year, and they got it by taking down the Red Riots twice during the regular season and then again by a 46-35 score in the Class A South championship game.

Hampden, similarly, was looking to get back to a state final after losing to Mt. Ararat in last year’s Class A championship game. The Broncos got their revenge, upsetting those same Eagles, 33-26, in the North final.

Hampden is looking for its first state title since 1976, having been denied in the Class A final in 2011, 2018 and 2019 in addition to last season. Cheverus, meanwhile, has a chance to win its third title in five years.

Top scorers meet in Class B

The Class B final between Lawrence of Fairfield and Oceanside of Rockland will pit the top two scorers in KVAC Class B, and two of the best players in the conference overall.

Provost, along with leading the conference in scoring, was also in the top five in rebounds (9.1 per game, fifth) and assists (3.9 per game, tied for fifth), as well as the KVAC B leader with 72 made 3-pointers. Lawrence was fourth in the conference at 59.7 points per game.

Provost and the Bulldogs will go up against an Oceanside team led by standout freshman Olivia Breen, who was second to Provost at 25.8 points per game while leading in rebounds (10.9) and field-goal percentage (.510), and finishing third in blocks (1.8). The Mariners led the conference in scoring at 67.7 points per game, and as they showed with a Class B South record 28 3-pointers during the regional tournament, they have no shortage of dangerous options on the court.

Old power vs. new power

Class D South champion Mt. Abram (18-3) has looked like a juggernaut all season, going 12-0 against Class D competition and rolling to the regional title with three wins by an average of 28.3 points.

The Roadrunners’ opponent Saturday knows the feeling. Penobscot Valley was that powerhouse last year, finishing with a 22-0 record en route to the Class C championship, including three tournament victories by 20 or more points.

This year, the Howlers have gone from giants to giant killers. They dropped five games during the regular season but took down previously undefeated Bangor Christian, the No. 1 seed, by 15 points in the North semifinals, then knocked off No. 2 Machias by 16 points in the North final.

The Howlers will try to take down another No. 1 seed, facing an opponent that has had a different leading scorer in each of its tournament victories.

Spruce’s turn in C?

Spruce Mountain has been looking for a Gold Ball breakthrough and has come agonizingly close in recent years.

The Phoenix get another shot Saturday.

Playing in Class B, Spruce Mountain made the South semifinals four years in a row, twice got to the regional final and once reached the state championship game, where it erased a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter before losing to Ellsworth by one point.

Now in Class C, Spruce Mountain goes for its first championship after winning its regional games by an average of 32.7 points. Getting past the finish line won’t be easy against Mattanawcook, the only undefeated team in the state and a program that has progressed one round further each of the last five years.