When Spruce Mountain’s season began in November, every player signed a sheet of paper.

The paper served as a commitment to accountability on the road to achieving their ultimate goal: playing for a Gold Ball. 

“We’re going to hold ourselves accountable and hold ourselves to these standards to achieve this,” said senior Grace Cuthbertson. 

That accountability hasn’t wavered, and now the Class C South champion the Phoenix (20-1) have a chance to win that Gold Ball when they face Mattanawcook Academy (21-0) in the Class C girls basketball title game at 7:05 p.m. Saturday at the Augusta Civic Center. 

“We definitely have a lot that we want to prove, since we are such a young team, and we want to prove to everyone, ‘Don’t look over Spruce anymore,’” Cuthbertson said. “We are here and we want it a lot.”

The Phoenix’s success has been building for several years. 

Cuthbertson is Spruce Mountain’s lone senior and was on the last Phoenix team to play for a state title. Spruce Mountain lost to Ellsworth by one point in the 2023 Class B state championship game. In 2024, they fell in the B South final to Oceanside.

Last year, Spruce Mountain suffered another one-point playoff loss, this time at the hands of Biddeford in the B South semifinals. 

“Once that standard is kind of set, which I think it started getting set four or five years ago when these girls were early middle school, they have something to look forward to and something to strive to be,” Spruce Mountain coach Zach Keene said. “And I think that’s kind of just trickled down over the years.”

The Phoenix will try to take the next step on Saturday.

“Our biggest thing right now is just have fun, embrace the moment,” junior Maddie Grimaldi said. “You don’t get to play in a state championship basketball game every single season. Sometimes it’s once in your career, and I think we just really want to take advantage of it and focus on what needs to happen in order to come out the way we want to.”

Before it can claim that coveted Gold Ball, however, Spruce Mountain will have to go up against a juggernaut in undefeated Mattanawcook. The Lynx are led by a dynamic group that includes seniors Addison Cyr, a Miss Maine Basketball finalist, Megan House and Chloe De La Cruz. 

“It sounds cliché, but what it’s going to take is our best performance of the year,” Keene said. “How do we respond to adversity in these games? How hard do we compete? How focused are we? How good of a week of practice do we have? Do we pay attention to details we need to pay attention to? And I think they will. I think they will pay attention to those things.” 

The Phoenix are led by Natasha McDonald and Lily Bellerose, who average 17 and 13 points per game, respectively. Both are also impact players on the defensive end, averaging four steals each.

“It’s not just the starting five,” McDonald said. “We have so many players that can impact a game from the bench, and not just scoring, but playing defense and getting rebounds and hustle plays.”

Grimaldi’s return from an ACL injury mid-season has also been big for the Phoenix. She is averaging 14 points, seven rebounds, two steals and a block since coming back. 

“I think that if all of us are clicking and working together … and we’re all scoring, I think it’s going to be hard to guard,” Grimaldi said. 

With one game left in the season, the Phoenix will take a shot at reaching the goal they set for themselves in November.

“That mentality helped us do really, really well throughout our season, and I think that it’s also just kind of unshakeable for all of us because we all just want it so bad,” Bellerose said.