For three quarters, Lexi Morin kept the Brunswick girls’ basketball team in it. Then she got the help she needed to make sure the Dragons still have a chance to accomplish their season-long goal.

Morin scored 14 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, and her physical play led the second-seeded Dragons past No. 1 Mt. Ararat and back into the state championship game with a 39-30 victory in the Class A South final Friday at the Portland Expo.

Brunswick (19-2) will play in its third state final when it faces North champion Cony on Saturday. The Dragons fell to Lawrence last year, and lost to Messalonskee in 2017.

“This is our revenge tour. We want it a lot,” Morin said. “We’ve worked hard as a team. … I think we’re a family. We spend a lot of time on and off the court, and we work well together.”

And when the playoffs arrive, they get a boost from their junior forward. Morin was named the tournament’s most outstanding player for the second straight year, and she was the difference-maker Friday, scoring 11 of the team’s 22 points through three physical quarters.

“She’s the focal point everywhere she goes,” Brunswick Coach Sam Farrell said. “She’s the hype man for the team … but she wants to win. She’s a winner. Winning is a skill. She came in as a freshman and learned how to win.”

Her biggest shot came with 7:36 left in the game, a 3-pointer that put Brunswick ahead 25-22.

“As a team, we all have to step up at some point,” Morin said. “If that’s what I have to do, that’s what I have to do. I had to put the team on my back.”

Dakota Shipley, who scored eight points, said Morin has made a habit of stepping up in big games.

“She’s an amazing player. She’s a juggernaut,” Shipley said. “She’s such a team player, she knows when to take it and knows when to pass. She keeps our offense moving.”

Morin didn’t score another point. She didn’t need to. Shipley converted back-to-back baskets, and Emily Doring knocked down a 3-pointer. Maddy Werner (seven points) then scored off a feed from Shipley on the next possession, making it 34-25 with around four minutes to go.

Meanwhile, the Eagles couldn’t keep pace. A 3-pointer by Avery Beal made it 36-30 with 1:57 remaining, but Mt. Ararat missed its final eight shots.

“I think it was pretty evenly matched the whole game. It was a battle, a physical battle on both ends of the floor,” said Eagles Coach Julie Petrie, whose team was led by eight points from Cali Pomerleau and seven from Julianna Allen. “They hit shots, and we couldn’t finish as well as we’d like to in the fourth quarter.”

Petrie said the experience should help an Eagles team that will return all five starters.

“They’ll have a taste of what it’s like to be here,” she said. “It’s more experience to build off of, use for next year and build that fire.”

Eva Harvie chipped in with seven points for the Dragons, who have the chance they’ve been longing for all season.

“It’s just amazing,” Shipley said. “We have some unfinished business from last year, so we’re looking to have a different outcome this year.”

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