The Mount Desert Island girls basketball entered the 2018-19 season as one of the most experienced teams in Class B North. The Trojans featured four senior starters in Alexis Clarito, Julia Watras, Hannah Chamberlain and Maddy Candage.
Part of their mission was to eradicate the memories of past tournament struggles, including MDI consecutive quarterfinal losses in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
They have done just that.
Coach Brent Barker’s top-seeded Trojans scratched out a hard-fought 42-27 victory over Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield to break the quarterfinal curse.
MDI then used a dramatic rally — including Watras’ long, buzzer-beating 3-pointer that forced the extra session — to beat defending state champ Winslow 57-51 in overtime in the semifinals.
And the Trojans capped their run by upending previously undefeated Waterville 44-35 in the title game.
“I wrote in one of my notebooks before the season that we would win a championship,” senior Maddy Candage said.
MDI, 19-2 and winner of 10 straight games, take on Class B South champ Gray-New Gloucester (19-2) in Saturday’s 1 p.m. state title game at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.
“We have been dreaming about this since third grade,” said Watras, who was chosen the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. “This has made everything worth it. I knew this was going to be the year. This feels really good right now.”
This year’s MDI seniors had experienced significant tourney frustration, coming on the heels of the Trojans’ 2014 Class B North championship.
As freshmen, MDI went 18-0 during the regular season, winning 14 games by 20-plus points, and was the top tournament seed. Ninth-seeded Gardiner shocked the Trojans in the quarterfinals.
In 2016, No. 2 MDI was upset by Hermon, then the No. 8 Trojans fell to top-seeded Houlton in 2017. Last year, MDI was seeded third and lost to Winslow.
Watras said the past years’ failures was a motivator for them.
“It made us want to work harder. We didn’t want to go down again [in the quarterfinals],” Watras said.
“This same group has worked together forever,” she said.
“We know each other’s flaws and how to build each other up,” Candage said.
Barker, who is in his 13th season leading MDI, pointed out that his seniors have done an exceptional job guiding the team.
“I wanted this badly for them. They have stayed with me, they have stayed loyal to the program and loyal to each other,” Barker said. “They never make excuses. They never place blame on other people.”
Barker said his players remained focused and participated in summer tournaments and have served as positive leaders.
Clarito said it has been a special season.
“This feels so good. We proved everybody wrong,” Clarito said.