OAKLAND

It was early in 2017 when the Brunswick High School girls basketball team made its run, sweeping through Kennebunk, York and Greely in capturing the Class A South regional title.

That ride ended with a thud at the Augusta Civic Center, as the talented Messalonskee Eagles rolled to a 58-33 victory in the State Class A title game.

The teams met again on Friday in a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference regular-season contest, with a lot less at stake other than playoff positioning, and the visiting Dragons gained a bit of revenge, downing the Eagles, 55-43, to improve to 11-0 on the season.

After the game, Brunswick coach Sam Farrell and his players seemed to take the New England Patriot approach — just another game on the schedule.

“That is their personality. Every win, like the ones against Lawrence and Greely, they are the same when I walk into the locker room,” said Farrell. “They are so even-keeled. We just don’t have those rah-rah kids.”

“We knew we had to shut down their players, and coach said everything tonight was about defense and we had to pick it up,” said Brunswick sophomore forward Alexis Guptill, who clogged the middle to the tune of six rebounds and three steals, along with routinely altering Messalonskee shot attempts. “We take every game as it comes. We rely on defense a lot, and we just trust each other enough to play very aggressive.”

For defending Class A champion Messalonskee (8- 4), head coach Keith Derosby saw a difference in this year’s Dragons.

“They took away all the cuts we needed and they switch enough to know when to keep us off-balance. We were just kicking the ball around, but that is a testament to Brunswick. They are long and athletic, and they just took away the passing lanes,” said Derosby. “They push the ball really well, they transition well offensively, and defensively they are active.”

What a start!

The first quarter was all about Brunswick guard Charlotte MacMillan. A player in the past who handled the ball and fed her teammates for points, has certainly found her shooting game this season. The junior scored 12 first-quarter points as the Dragons jumped out to a 20-11 lead.

“She is in a different role this year,” said Farrell of MacMillan. “When she doesn’t have to play the point, she just has to get open. Sabrina (Armstrong) gets a lot of attention, which frees her up.”

“Our defensive aggressiveness always seems to turn into offense, and we just felt like we were ready to come into tonight,” said MacMillan. “It was critical to start fast.”

Brunswick continued to pour it on in the second quarter. MacMillan stepped back and drained a 3-pointer for a 23-13 lead, and moments later hit a short jumper followed by a trey from Emily Larochelle for a 28-13 advantage. MacMillan tallied her final points of the opening half for a 30-15 Brunswick lead. She had 19 points through 16 minutes.

Messalonskee didn’t go away. Trailing 32-17, the Eagles closed the first half with a 9-0 run to get to 32-26 at the break. Gabrielle Wener had nine points to lead the hosts, with KK Wilson adding five.

The Eagles trailed just 36- 32 in the third quarter after a Wilson putback, but Brunswick closed the frame with a 9-2 spurt for an 11- point lead heading to the fourth. Guptill and the Dragon defense continued to frustrate Messalonskee, which turned the ball over seven times in the frame.

“She is a load inside and just plays hard, and having a point guard come back makes a difference and gives them that dynamic, allowing players like Charlotte and Sabrina to not have to do as much,” said Derosby of Guptill and Brunswick point guard Marley Groat. “For us, we had some lapses defensively. We have to recognize when not to leave certain shooters. Brunswick is just more complete right now.”

In the fourth, Messalonskee continued to look for open shots to no avail.

“We did a much better job of matching up and playing defense the way that we are supposed to,” said Farrell, whose Dragons host Morse on Tuesday at 5 p.m. “We moved, and I’m not sure Messalonskee had an open shot. The fourth quarter was much better than the second quarter.”

Farrell discussed the defensive play of Armstrong (six points, seven rebounds, four steals) and Rian Sachs (six steals, three assists).

“Sabrina and Rian didn’t put a lot of points on the board tonight, but it was those deflections and rebounds,” the Brunswick coach said. “How many times did they make the cut to free up the other kids? Those are the types of things you don’t see in the stats. Those two did that all night.”

MacMillan finished with 27 points and five rebounds, while Groat chipped in 10 points, seven assists and three steals.

“We wanted to win this really bad, but we want to win all of our games,” Guptill added.

Wener led Messalonskee with 13 points and seven caroms, with Ally Turner adding eight points and four assists. Wilson finished with seven points and five rebounds.

Brunswick 55,
Messalonskee 43

Friday at Oakland
Brunswick — 20 12 13 10 — 55
Messalonskee—11 15 8 9 — 43
Brunswick — Charlotte MacMillan
11-2-27, Rian Sachs 1-0-3, Marley
Groat 2-6-10, Sabrina Armstrong 2-
2-6, Alexis Guptill 3-0-6, Emily
Larochelle 1-0-3, Mackenzie Burrows
0-0-0, Rosalie White 0-0-0. Totals —
20-10-55.
Messalonskee — Gabrielle Wener 5-
2-13, Katie Seekins 0-0-0, KK Wilson
3-0-7, Alyssa Genness 2-0-4, Ally
Turner 3-2-8, Mackenzie Mayo 0-0-0,
Emily Parent 2-0-4, Brooke Martin 1-
5-7, Sarah Lowell 0-0-0, Brianne
Benecke 0-0-0. Totals — 16-9-43.
3-point field goals — (B) MacMillan
3, Sachs, Larochelle; (M) Wener, Wilson. Records — Brunswick 11-0, Messalonskee 8-4.
Up next for the Dragons — Tuesday
at home vs. Morse, 5 p.m.