View 12 photos

PORTLAND — The Cheverus girls basketball team was seemingly dead, seemingly buried, seemingly done.

Only a flicker of hope was left. That turned out to be enough.

Cheverus pulled off a stunning comeback for the ages, storming back from 19 points down in the third quarter to shock Hampden Academy, 63-61 in overtime in the Class A final Saturday at Cross Insurance Arena.

Freshman Kristin King scored 24 points, including the winning basket with 36 seconds left in overtime. Kylie Lamson, a senior who forced overtime by making a layup with two seconds remaining in regulation, finished with 21 points, all but four coming after halftime.

“It felt like an impossible win. I’m in shock,” Cheverus coach Billy Goodman said. “I really can’t believe what we just did.”

Hampden (17-5) had the Stags (21-1) down big, peaking at 40-21 with five minutes to go in the third quarter. Lamson, a Miss Maine basketball finalist, was in foul trouble. The Broncos’ fan section was delivering the “Over-rated!” chant — not once, but twice.

But shots started to fall for the Stags, and their trapping defense forced numerous turnovers. The lead began to shrink. It all culminated with the Stags celebrating wildly, state champions for the third time in five seasons.

Somehow.

“I started bawling my eyes out, I just started crying in the middle of the court,” Lamson said. “It’s an unbelievable feeling. … (The rally) makes it 10 times better, in every aspect.”

Cheverus was down 54-52 but had possession with 5.4 seconds left in regulation. Anna Goodman inbounded the ball under the basket and found Lamson, who played the whole fourth quarter with four fouls.

The key, Lamson said, was that Hampden’s 6-foot-4 center, Grace LaBree, was away from the basket, and she and Goodman both saw the opportunity for a quick cut.

“Me and Anna just had that connection with each other,” Lamson said. “We looked at each other and knew I was going to be wide open.”

Cheverus took a four-point lead in overtime, but Hampden drew even at 58-58 on a LaBree putback. King, whose scoring kept the Stags afloat when their odds were longest, drove right and connected on a runner with 36 seconds to go, putting Cheverus back in front.

King also hit two free throws with 17.2 seconds left to make it 62-58. Hampden answered with a 3-pointer from Aubrey Shaw but couldn’t get a shot after Addie Jordan made 1 of 2 free throws with 1.5 seconds remaining.

“I knew we needed to get a basket, and I was going to take it because I was feeling good,” King said. “I can’t even comprehend it. It’s just awesome, something I’ll never forget, ever.”

Eve Wiles had 17 points and Grace LaBree had 15 for Hampden, which played a borderline perfect first half to put the Stags on life support. The Broncos shot 6 of 8 from 3-point range. They stuck to Cheverus shooters. LaBree had all roads to the basket closed off.

It wasn’t enough.

“Sometimes in life, you can do everything the way you want to do it, and you can do it really, really well, and not get the results you want,” Broncos coach Nick Winchester said. “They could have rolled over at (being down 34-17) at the half, and that could have been the end of the game. … But they kept fighting, and they sort of locked down defensively with the pressure.”

Down nearly 20 points, Cheverus made a permanent switch to its half-court trap. The results were almost immediate; after turning the ball over seven times in the first half, Hampden turned it over 20 times in the second, and the 19-point lead was down to 49-40 going into the fourth quarter.

“That’s why we came back in this game,” Billy Goodman said.

Lamson played in the back of the press because of her foul trouble, but King, Goodman, Rachel LaSalle, Abby Kelly and Marian Pitney picked up the slack to frazzle the Broncos.

No one brought more pressure, though, than Jordan, who had eight steals and was a major disruptive presence a month and a half after returning from ACL surgery.

“We all got a little down. You can’t not get down when you’re down 19,” Jordan said. “I’m thrilled, and I don’t know what just happened. It still hasn’t registered. It’s just so amazing.”

Maybe that’s the best word to describe it.

“This is incredible,” said Billy Goodman, who won his sixth state title, including three with McAuley. “My girls, they’re mentally tough. I give them credit. They just kept bringing it.”