PORTLAND

It almost got ugly.

Saturday night’s Class A South girls basketball regional final win (54-51) wasn’t just improbable because it was Brunswick High School’s first title. It was improbable because it was almost over before the third quarter even ended.

Like their first meeting with Greely on Dec. 15 (a 65- 46 loss), the Dragons came out flat in the second half and were in grave danger of losing handily. After a buzzer-beater to end the first half and an 8-2 run to begin the second, the No. 1-seeded Rangers had all the momentum and the Cross Insurance Arena crowd on their side.

But there was something about this game. As Madeline Suhr kept hitting shots and the adjustments kept working, it became clear.

This time was different.

Keying in

One thing No. 2 Brunswick (18-3) didn’t want to do was get in a shootout. Greely (19-2) scored over 60 points in 12 of its 18 games in the regular season and has multiple playmakers like Anna DeWolfe and Moira Train.

Closing in on them was emphasized from the get-go.

“We knew who we needed to shut down,” Brunswick forward Brooke Barter said. “We needed to shut down Anna DeWolfe and Moira Train. We went over a gameplan the two days we had practices and we had Charlotte (MacMillan) face-guarding Anna. In the beginning of the season, our defense definitely wasn’t where we wanted it be. We just improved it over the season and got a lot better.”

In the first quarter, it worked to a tee. The Dragons jumped out to a 5-1 lead and held Greely without a field goal for over three minutes. After the Rangers tied it up at five, Suhr hit her second of three first-quarter treys and sparked a run to make it 11-7 at the end of one.

No 3-pointers and no hot shooters early.

Plan B

Brunswick was dictating the game and was totally content with minimal scoring. So much so that at the end of the second quarter, down by three and defending, the Dragons simply let Greely run out the clock. For almost two full minutes, all players on the floor stood still and waited for a call from the bench.

Unfortunately for Brunswick coach Sam Farrell, that comfortable 3-point deficit turned into seven as the plan backfired.

With about 45 seconds left, play resumed and Brooke Obar drove to the hoop for Greely. She hit one free throw following a foul and then the Rangers stole a pass at mid-court and sparked another chance. DeWolfe gathered the ball and dished it off to Isabel Porter (19 points) who launched a desperation heave that fell through at the buzzer.

Bad got worse in the opening minutes of the third, when the decisive scoring run forced a timeout and put the Dragons down 14. Suddenly, they didn’t have time to rely on defense and keep things tight. They needed points.

“Our first quarter, we came out really strong,” Barter said. “Second quarter, we just kind of fell apart. They started getting more steals, their bench was getting hyped up. We were starting to lose energy. We came in at halftime and we regrouped and realized that we needed to play our game instead of trying to feed off their energy.”

That’s when Barter and Sabrina Armstrong joined the scene.

Bounce back

Armstrong, who was an ice-cold 0-for-8 in the first half, splashed a 3-pointer midway through the third quarter to start the Brunswick comeback. Suhr followed with her fourth trey of the night and then Armstrong hit another to cut the deficit to six.

Soon, after Suhr (game-high 22 points) sunk a deep three and finished a putback, 40-34 turned into a stunning 45-44 lead for the Dragons.

“I don’t know why we stopped giving her the ball,” Armstrong said of Suhr. “We should have kept giving it to her. Coming out in the second half, it was a point of emphasis. Get her the ball, then I hit a couple so we got me the ball. That’s just when our offense started flowing.”

These were the big shots that Brunswick didn’t hit in the first meeting. The one’s Greely did.

“We were down three against them the first time and we missed eight layups,” Farrell said. “And that’s the difference. Defensively, we didn’t come to play as much.”

Barter, after just one basket and minimal action in the first half, hit two free throws in the closing seconds and finished with 14 points. Down the stretch, the seniors took over.

“Brooke Barter into the starting lineup halfway through the season, it changed everything,” Farrell said. “Our senior leadership. I mean you can see it. It’s such a big deal to have seniors that can contribute.”

Turnovers

Some of what plagued the Dragons in the first setback was turnovers. In the second half especially, giveaways led directly to open shots and points for Greely. The Rangers used that same pressure on Saturday, forcing 27 Brunswick turnovers — the only difference was what they did with them.

Greely coach Todd Flaherty said he would normally expect about 30 points from that many giveaways, but they led to just 11. And 18 turnovers of their own didn’t help.

“We turned them over the first time we played them,” Flaherty said. “We scored and they didn’t. I think we weren’t scoring off the turnovers. We just weren’t scoring in transition and they were. I think that’s the difference.”

Greely ended the night hitting just 16-of-52 from the floor and going 4-of-18 from outside.

In the final seconds of the game, just before Barter’s free throws, the Rangers stole an inbound pass from the sideline and had a chance to take the lead. They dribbled down the floor, threw a pass to the left and watched Brunswick pick it off. A couple passes later, Barter was holding it and waiting for a foul with 3.3 seconds left.

In the end, a number of things led to the monumental title. It was planning and executing. It was strong defense and adjusting on the fly. It was precise 3-point shooting and senior leadership.

It was just Brunswick’s night.