AUGUSTA — Blayke Morin finally got her Gold Ball.

A senior and five-year member of the Rangeley girls’ basketball team, Morin finished with 10 points, 18 rebounds and four blocks to help lead the Lakers to a 28-22 victory over Shead in the Class D championship game Saturday afternoon at the Augusta Civic Center.

Morin and the Lakers fell in the state final last year against Washburn, 60-54, and came up short in the regional final the previous three years.

“It means so much. I’ve been thinking about this since I was 10 years old in the gym,” Morin said. “From coming here every year to finally getting it means a lot to hold this Gold Ball for my community and my team.”

Saturday’s contest was a defensive struggle. It was the lowest-scoring girls’ state championship game ever – in all classes. The teams combined to shoot 25.3 percent, as Rangeley (21-1) shot 11 of 40 with 14 turnovers while Shead (15-7) was 8 for 35 with 15 turnovers.

“We practice man-to-man every day in practice,” said Rangeley senior Maddison Egan, who scored seven points. “That’s what we played all season, so we were really comfortable help-side, deny, getting in passing lanes and forcing them to make turnovers.”

Morin and Egan, the lone seniors on the team, stepped up when the Lakers needed a play.

“Blayke and Maddy really held up their end for leadership and kept everybody composed,” Rangeley Coach Heidi Deery said. “They knew there was nowhere else to look; that they had to look at themselves. … They just made the adjustment to realize that this was their time. Their heads didn’t swell. They didn’t become somebody else. They stayed true to themselves and true to our program, believing that a team will get it done.”

Rangeley opened the game on a 6-0 run, as Shead went scoreless through the first 5:27 and went 0 of 4 from the field with three turnovers. Morin scored six points in the opening quarter and had half of the Lakers’ points at intermission, with Rangeley clinging to a 16-9 advantage.

Egan scored five of her team’s first seven points to start the second half, extending the lead to 23-13, but then the Lakers’ offense dried up. Shead scored seven straight points and held Rangeley scoreless for nearly nine minutes.

Morin finally snapped the drought with a hoop plus a foul on an offensive rebound, though she missed the free throw with 3:19 remaining.

Holly Preston (10 points) answered with a pair of free throws, but Rangeley started to take time off the clock. Shead was finally forced to foul Egan with 55.7 seconds left and Deery took a timeout to allow the senior guard to settle herself. Egan calmly knocked down both shots.

“My mind was everywhere,” Egan said. “Heidi tells us every practice that free throws win games, so I knew I needed to block everything else out and focus on the free throws to put away the game.

“I was very nervous. Good thing we had that timeout to cool myself down and collect myself.”