AUGUSTA — The Lawrence High School girls’ basketball team found itself in unfamiliar territory Wednesday — the Bulldogs trailed at the half against this year’s Eastern A Cinderella team from Brunswick.

Lawrence played from behind for much of the first half and was down by seven at the break.

“This is the first time we’ve been behind all year at halftime,” Lawrence coach John Donato said. “They stuck together and kept focusing on what we do.”

The second-seeded Bulldogs got on track in the third quarter and pulled away from the Dragons for a 62-52 win in the Eastern A semifinal. Lawrence gets a rematch with Bangor on Saturday afternoon in the regional final at the Augusta Civic Center.

“We told each other that we weren’t playing like we usually do,” junior forward Nia Irving said. “We had to play our defense. We held teams to 37 points a game and we gave up that many in the first half. We knew we needed to change that.”

Irving led the Bulldogs with 33 points, including 16 in the second half. She also sank 15 out of 16 free throws. Paige Belanger added 11. Lawrence (19-1) as a team sank 30 out of 34 free throws and hit 12 straight in the third quarter. Lawrence was the top free-throw shooting team in the KVAC this season.

“Oh my God, I think that’s a team record,” Irving said at the news of the team’s prowess at the foul line. “We’ve had some pretty nice foul shooting drills — a lot of running if we miss. So it really inspires us to make them.”

Fifth-ranked Brunswick (12-8) were led by Julia Champagne with 16 and Sabrina Armstrong with 14. The Dragons were hampered by fouls. Champagne, Armstrong, Madeline Suhr and Adrianna White all had at least three in the third quarter. Armstrong and Suhr eventually fouled out. Lawrence also did a nice job on Champagne, the KVAC’s second-leading scorer behind Irving. The senior guard was held to just three points in the fourth, when Donato gave Belanger that defensive assignment.

“She shut her down when it was most important,” Donato said. “That gave us a chance to get ahead.”

Down 37-30 at the half, the Bulldogs responded to their first deficit with a dominant third quarter. Irving scored 13 points and Lawrence ran off 19 straight to build a 49-37 lead. Brunswick didn’t hit its first field goal until Champagne scored with 1:10 left in the quarter.  The Dragons missed their first eight shots of the third.

“It all starts with defense,” Irving said. “That’s what we work hardest on in practice.”

Dominique Lewis hit a 3 and Belanger added five points in the third as the Bulldogs had the advantage up to 53-42 entering the fourth.

Brunswick made a run and got as close as 53-50 with 5:12 left. The Dragons scored eight straight to start the fourth. Suhr had five points, including a 3 and Champagne added three in the spurt.

Lawrence answered with free throws by Belanger and Irving to make it 56-50 with 2:48 remaining. Champagne scored to make it a 56-52 game with 2:01 left but that was as close as the Dragons would get. Irving, Morgan Boudreau and Lewis each sank a pair of free throws to seal it.

“It’s really just a composure thing,” Irving said. “We just need to stick together as a team and hold our ground and stick to what we do best.”

Brunswick, which beat the defending Eastern A champs from Oxford Hills in the quarterfinals, issued the challenge to Lawrence in the first half. A 10-5 run to end the first quarter, led by 3’s by Armstrong and Gillian Doehring, gave Brunswick an 18-13 lead.

The Bulldogs picked up its game and started scoring at a good clip. Irving scored 13 points in the second quarter, but Lawrence couldn’t stop the Dragons. Brunswick hit five of its first eight shots. Armstrong, a freshman, scored nine points in the second while Champagne and White each had four as Brunswick built the 37-30 lead.

“We just played lousy defense in the first half,” Donato said. “We weren’t shooting the ball from the outside. We were hesitant shooting the ball. We weren’t balanced at all shooting the ball. Then we started getting the ball inside and that’s when we pulled away.”

kmills@sunjournal.com