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Shortly after this year’s Class B state final, Lawrence coach Greg Chesley watched film of his 2023 state championship team. He saw some of the same thing he saw on the floor this year: Maddie Provost running around, making plays, helping lead her team to victory.

That’s where the similarities ended, however.

“You watch the (games) this year and see how her game has progressed so much,” Chesley said. “With some of the things she can do now, getting to the rim and that mid-range jump shot, everything has just really progressed a lot.”

It was already a great high school career, but Provost capped it in fitting fashion. She won the Miss Maine Basketball and Gatorade Player of the Year awards after claiming the ultimate prize by leading the Bulldogs to the Class B championship — their seventh state title, and Provost’s second.

For her performance, Provost is our choice as Varsity Maine Player of the Year for girls basketball. Kylie Lamson, who led Cheverus to the Class A championship, was also considered.

“I don’t believe my senior year could have gone (more) accordingly,” Provost said. “My ultimate goal was to win the state championship with my team and bring it back here to Lawrence. Everything else was just the cherry on top.”

Provost shook off a midseason ankle injury to average 27.1 points per game, along with 9.4 rebounds. Her 72 made 3-pointers led the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference. That has always been part of her game; since she arrived at Lawrence, Provost has been the player opponents have been terrified to leave open.

This year, however, the Holy Cross commit continued her progression into an even more well-rounded player, and someone who could both run the floor and set up teammates for success, or attack the basket and force teams to find another way to defend her.

“She’s gotten so much stronger,” Chesley said. “Early on, she had trouble finishing in traffic. She could get by people, she’s quick, but she wasn’t getting to the line as much because she would avoid that contact.

“This year, she got to the foul line a lot more because she’d get by people and would be kind of looking for that contact. Draw the contact and make the shot.”

That was evident in the final against Oceanside. The Mariners kept Provost from making a 3-pointer, but she still carved them up for 19 points in addition to 15 rebounds — another improvement in her game — while leading the Bulldogs out of a seven-point hole.

For Provost, the final was personal. The Bulldogs lost in the regional semifinals as an undefeated top seed last season, and so this year was about capitalizing on a final chance.

“I think that motivated me a lot this year,” she said. “Sometimes you don’t really fully learn things until you’ve lost. Last year was truly important for me and some of my teammates, just from a learning standpoint.”

Returning to the top was a “dream come true,” she said, but a bittersweet feeling as well.

“This year was definitely a lot different, knowing it was my last time wearing ‘Lawrence’ across my chest,” she said. “It was a hard goodbye, but (there’s) not a better note (on which) to end my career there.”