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The rivalry that’s come to dominate Class AA girls basketball added another stirring chapter Saturday.

Addie Jordan hit a go-ahead 3-pointer before knocking down a pair of clinching free throws, Abby Kelly made a pivotal steal, and No. 2 Cheverus returned to the Class AA state championship game by beating No. 1 Oxford Hills, 41-37, in the fourth straight North regional final between the teams.

The defending state champion Stags (16-5), led by 16 points from the tournament’s outstanding player, Kylie Lamson, and 10 from Jordan, will is one win away from its third state title in four years.

Oxford Hills, led by 17 points from Ella Pelletier, 12 from Gabbie Tibbetts and eight points and eight steals from Maddy Herrick, finished 17-3. The Vikings were playing in their ninth straight regional final.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” said Lamson, a junior playing her first season at Cheverus after two at Thornton Academy. “It’s definitely fun (to play close games), but you want to win, so it makes it nerve-wracking. Any wrong pass, any wrong move, it can change the game completely. But we didn’t have any of those. We took care of the ball, we changed the game, we got steals.”

It was a drastically different story than the teams’ regular-season matchup, a 50-29 Vikings victory Jan. 17 that had the Stags longing for another chance.

“It’s crazy. Oxford Hills, they’re champions, they’re tough defenders, Ella is the best player in the state, Tibbetts is great,” Cheverus coach Bill Goodman said. “We have a lot of respect for them. To get a win over that team is pretty cool.”

The Stags led for most of the game but trailed 34-32, following a pair of Herrick baskets midway through the fourth quarter, when Lamson had the ball under the basket with her momentum carrying her out of bounds. She turned and fired a pass up to the top of the key, where Jordan, a sophomore, was standing alone.

“I was just looking for someone, and I saw her right there. She was wide open,” Lamson said. “I didn’t know she was going to shoot it, if I’m being honest.”

Jordan did, and she swished it for a 35-34 Cheverus lead with 4:52 to go.

“I looked at Kylie and I said ‘We’re not going to get down again,'” Jordan said, referring to the deficit she erased. “‘We got down once. That’s the only time we’re getting down.'”

The lead expanded to 39-34, but Jordan missed a pair of free throws with 1:01 remaining, and Tibbetts hit a 3-pointer with 34 seconds left to make it 39-37. Pelletier gathered a rebound on the next possession, but Kelly followed the play and stole the ball from the star forward.

“I saw Ella had (the ball) a little bit away from her, and I was like ‘This is my chance,'” said Kelly, who also had eight rebounds. “It felt like slow motion. It felt unreal.”

Jordan went to the line with 19.4 seconds to go and atoned for her misses, knocking down both free throws. Two missed Vikings shots later, Jordan’s vow to Lamson was fulfilled.

“I felt a little nervous,” Jordan said. “I missed those two, but I was like ‘Come on, Addie, you’ve got this. You’re on the next two. Just take your deep breaths.'”

It was another battle between two teams that have stood in each other’s championship paths the last four years.

“We’re crushed, but there was no lack of effort,” Vikings coach Cim Colby said. “Cheverus is here every year for a reason. This isn’t a mistake that they’re celebrating now. … We knew we’d have to go through Cheverus if we were going to go all the way, and we came up just short.”

The Stags felt that same respect.

“We all know that Oxford Hills is a really good program,” said junior Anna Goodman (six points), “and we all look forward to competing against them, and want to do the best against them.”

Oxford Hills was hurt by shooting struggles early. The Vikings shot only 7 for 33 (21%) in the first half, missing layups and 3s, as Cheverus took a 21-19 lead.

“Our goal is always to get 15 shots a quarter,” Colby said. “If you would have told me at halftime we’d have 33 shots, I would have thought we’d walk away with this thing. It just didn’t work out.”

It nearly did, as the Vikings showed resilience in shaking off their slow start and a second-half deficit that peaked at six points late in the third quarter. Cheverus, however, had the answers again.

“People thought this year was going to be a rebuilding year for Cheverus,” senior guard Rachel Feeley said. “We wanted to prove those people wrong, and prove that we are an amazing team and we can compete with the best teams in the state.”