South Portland’s Emma Travis goes up for a basket during a Class AA South girls basketball semifinal last week against Scarborough. The Red Riots will play for the state championship Saturday against defending champion Cheverus. Brianna Soukup/Portland Press Herald

South Portland girls basketball coach Brianne Maloney watches the film of her team’s 57-47 loss to Cheverus on Dec. 17, and it’s not long before she’s reaching for aspirin.

“We look back at that game, and I couldn’t even get through watching the first half,” she said.

There’s a bright side to doing so, however: It shows just how much can change in just a little bit of time.

“I’m like ‘Wow, we’re such a better defensive team than we were three games into the season,'” she said. “It wasn’t like we started out the year how we are now. They worked really hard every day in practice to get to where they are now.”

It might as well be a theme for this South Portland team. The Red Riots have been poised for success for the last two years, but it took some growth for them to go from young-but-inexperienced to playing Saturday for a Class AA championship — only South Portland’s second bid for a Gold Ball since 1986.

“It was always the goal,” senior guard and captain Emma Travis said. “It’s always been the goal in the back of my mind and everybody else’s mind. We’ve been doing the right things at the right time to get us here.”

The names are almost entirely the same: South Portland didn’t graduate a single player from last year’s team that went 15-5, took second place in the Class AA South Heal point standings and reached the regional semifinals. But while the Red Riots were raw and perhaps not quite ready for the big time last year, evidenced by a disappointing 33-31 loss to Scarborough in the semifinals, they’ve played with a poise and maturity this season that they can see now was lacking at times a season ago.

“I think this year we’re a lot more confident with everything,” sophomore guard Annie Whitmore said. “I think it’s the confidence part that was really missing last year.”

South Portland’s Mya Lawrence hits the floor while going after the ball with Gorham’s Zoe Dellinger during a AA South playoff game. Carl D. Walsh/Portland Press Herald

The team was determined to cash in on its talent and potential.

“Last year, we ended our season short. I feel like going into this season, it’s been in the back of our heads,” junior forward Destiny Peter said. “(It’s) kind of motivated us through the season to make it to where we are today.”

There’s been growth player by player. Starting guards Whitmore and Mya Lawrence had to adjust to the varsity game as freshmen last season but have benefited from an additional year of experience. Whitmore, the AA South tournament MVP, has grown comfortable as the team’s go-to scorer, ball-handler and floor leader.

“(I’m) seeing the court better. Last year, I didn’t have as many assists as I’m having this year,” she said. “Me being more comfortable being a true point guard has really helped.”

Peter, who’s established herself as the Red Riots’ anchor in the post with averages of 11 points and 10.5 rebounds per game, said she’s improved her mental toughness.

“I’ve been more mentally composed. I’ve been able to let go of things that would typically make me upset, and just move on,” she said. “Any time I make a mistake, I’m always like ‘You’ve got it, you don’t need to be too much on yourself. You can move on to the next play, because it only gets better.'”

The team didn’t have any seniors last year, but Travis, a captain last year as a junior, has become the team’s emotional and vocal leader.

“We told her last year that the team feeds off her emotions,” Maloney said. “If the team sees her getting rattled, then Annie and Mya start to feel that same feeling of pressure. If she stays calm, cool and collected, then they feed off of that as well.”

With individual growth came team-wide growth, and a good team took the steps forward into becoming a great one.

“We’re making smarter decisions, we’re making the smarter passes for the open player instead of being more selfish with the ball,” Travis said. “I don’t necessarily think we were (selfish) last year, I just think we weren’t mentally ready to make those passes.”

The first big breakthrough for the Red Riots was a 59-47 win over Cheverus, a month and a half after the defeat that had Maloney struggling to get through the game film. Then came a 46-40 win over defending regional champion Gorham in the regular-season finale with AA South’s No. 1 seed at stake, followed by a semifinal win over Scarborough that buried memories from last year.

South Portland built its run of success with a dazzling shooting display in a regional final victory over Gorham that included eight 3-pointers and formally proved that the up-and-coming team had arrived.

“We were kind of taking everything personally,” Whitmore said. “No matter what, we knew that we were a championship team, and now we’re just proving it to everyone. … We’re proving to everyone that we can do it, and we will do it.”