By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer

AUGUSTA – The shortage of seniors in the Mountain Valley Conference and Western Class C girls’ basketball this season was almost alarming.

Hall-Dale’s only player ordering a gown and mortarboard this spring didn’t play one minute of Saturday’s regional final against Dirigo.

Telstar didn’t suit up a single member of the Class of 2005 in its quarterfinal loss to the Cougars. Jay trotted out only two in the semis, two days after swatting away a pesky Monmouth team that flaunted a starting five of freshmen and sophomores.

As if Dirigo didn’t enjoy enough inherent advantages in pursuit of its 11th straight sectional trophy, the Cougars have the luxury of their two primary ball-handlers, point guard Brooke Weston and captain Alexa Kaubris, owning a combined eight varsity hoop letters.

“They’ve been through all the wars,” Dirigo coach Gavin Kane said. “They’re seasoned veterans, and we certainly do look to them to handle any tight situations.”

Not that anyone else’s pulse was racing in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s 43-32 silencing of Hall-Dale.

Michelle Holmquist and Holly Knight, the post players primarily responsible for clamping down on the Bulldogs’ Caitlyn Laflin and Chelsey Dionne, are juniors who were playing their 10th game at Augusta Civic Center.

If you’re wondering about fifth starter Mallory Child, yup, she’s a senior.

“We’ve been here for the last three years,” said Knight, “so we feel experienced.”

Dirigo went 2-for-12 from the floor in the second quarter and watched a 12-8 lead shrink slightly to a football-like halftime disparity of 17-14.

Other teams would have wondered why the sledding wasn’t as easy as it looked in a 50-31 MVC Championship triumph over the same Bulldogs a dozen days ago. And they would have panicked.

Not the Cougars.

Not Weston, the point guard who’s perpetually playing with her head held high and dribbling as deftly with her left hand as her right.

Not Kaubris, who joined Dirigo predecessors Debbie DiConzo (1977-78), Rebecca Fletcher (1995-96) and Tara Gagnon (1999-2000) in winning the Robin Colcord Award, symbolic of the tourney’s most valuable player and sportswoman, in back-to-back seasons.

“They’ve done a great job,” said Kane. “It’s nice knowing you’ve got a couple of veterans that you can look to late in the ballgame.”

Choosing shots as carefully as if they were selecting the right chartered bus for another state championship trip to Bangor Auditorium, Dirigo attempted only a dozen after the break.

It made eight.

Kaubris caused a commotion at both ends of the floor with 18 points, super-glue-fingered defense and all-around unselfishness.

Weston, Holmquist and Kaubris combined to can 8-of-10 free throws in the final 6:21.

“There’s just an awful lot of pride in what we’ve been able to accomplish in this run,” said Kane. “These kids have stepped right in and gone with what we’ve been able to do in the past.”

No surprise, really, when they’re the ones who did it last year. And the year before that.