PORTLAND — History was made by Thornton Academy in Western Maine Class A girls basketball Saturday as the Golden Trojans won a regional final for the first time in program history, while also making McAuley’s four-year run as Western Maine champ just that: history.

The heavyweight fight between the top-seeded Lions and second-seeded Trojans lived up to the billing as defense dominated the game, but an offensive outburst by an unlikely player helped push Thornton to a 41-31 victory at Cross Insurance Arena.

The teams combined for just 12 points in the first quarter, and 25 in the first half, but Thornton’s Abby Strickland ”“ the Trojan’s other senior forward ”“ scored eight of her game-high 12 points in the fourth quarter as a one-possession game throughout the first 28 minutes turned into a comfortable winning margin.

“Defensively, I was already just really, really so impressed with the way she was playing, guarding (Jess) Willerson, who’s clearly one of the best post players around. And then she just exploded offensively for us, which was huge,” Thornton head coach Eric Marston said of Strickland. “That really gave us some breathing room, which allowed us to pull away at the end.”

Strickland helped quiet Willerson, McAuley’s star junior forward, to just two of her eight points after halftime while fellow senior forward Victoria Lux was handcuffed with foul trouble. She also gave Thornton the game’s first two-possession lead (27-23) on a layup with 4:10 left.

“I think it just came down to playing our roles, and I think at that certain moment it came down to me stepping up in the post and guarding Willerson, who’s a phenomenal player,” said Strickland.

Lux was named the recipient of the Edward “Red” McMann Award,  given to the tournament’s most outstanding player/sportsperson, and finished the regional final with 10 points and 10 rebounds, but made way in the game’s final frame for her classmate.

The Trojans also got a big performance by another complementary player, freshman guard Alex Hart, over the final 8:03 of the game. Hart drained a pull-up jumper to beat the buzzer at the end of the third quarter to put Thornton up 21-18, then hit the front end of a 1-and-1 with 1:11 left to put the Trojans up 31-27.

McAuley called a timeout after the make, and Hart missed the second free throw, but she ran down the miss and threw it off a McAuley player before going out of bounds to keep possession with the Trojans. She corralled another rebound after missing a pair of free throws in the final minute.

“I just told the girls that it’s amazing what can be accomplished when nobody cares who gets the credit, and they wholeheartedly believe that,” said Marston. “That is a family in that locker room and I’m just so proud of them.”

McAuley took the game’s initial lead, and held slim leads after the first and second quarters, as Lux picked up her second foul 4:40 into the game and her third with 3:06 left in the first half.

“It was very frustrating, but I knew I had to stop thinking about and just keep playing. If I kept thinking about it I knew it was going to hurt us,” said Lux.

The Trojans didn’t take a lead until 3:15 into the second quarter as Ashley Howe drove the baseline to put Thornton up 11-9. But the Lions ended the half on a 5-0 run, coinciding with Lux’s third foul.

Lux gave the Trojans the lead for good on a scoop shot at the midway point of the third quarter.

“It means a lot. This new team, it feels totally different than it has the last three (seasons),” said Lux, who transferred from McAuley to hometown Thornton for her senior year. “With this team, it’s totally different; it’s so special, we’re a family. It’s indescribable.”

Saturday’s regional final was the rubber game between the Trojans and Lions this season as the two teams each won at home during the regular season. McAuley earned the No. 1 seed after finishing the season 17-1, while the Trojans also lost to Gorham, giving them the No. 2 seed. Marston said that loss to Gorham ”“ Thornton’s last loss before the current eight-game winning streak ”“ was the key to the regional final run.

“That was the best thing that happened to us all season,” Marston said of that loss. “We tried to say that at the time, and you want to believe it, but at the time it’s hard to believe it. And we learned a ton of lessons from that, and I’m not sure that we’d be here now if we didn’t lose that game then.”

Where the Trojans are now is preparing for a girls basketball state championship game for the first time in Thornton Academy history. The magnitude of that fact isn’t lost on Marston.

“With Thornton Academy, we really pride ourselves on the history part of it. The school is over 200 years old, and it feels pretty special to bring home the first Western Maine championship,” said Marston. “The girls, again, right away they started talking about the next step and hungry for the state championship. They’re enjoying this one now, but I can tell they’re already starting to get that laser focus for Lawrence.”

The Trojans will match up with the Bulldogs, the No. 2 seed in the East who went 17-1 during the regular season, at the Augusta Civic Center at 3 p.m. Saturday.

— Sports Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.