Mohegan - They took the court on Saturday afternoon at the Mohegan Sun Arena with boundless energy, jumping up and down with smiles covering their faces.

By the end of the third quarter and staring at a 10-point deficit while everything seemed to be working against them, the members of the Bacon Academy girls' basketball team looked mostly confused and exasperated, unsure how the game had come to this.

Then the fourth quarter started and Brooke Bailey and Katie Mahoney hoisted the Bobcats on their shoulders. They scored 21 of top-seeded Bacon's 22 fourth-quarter points and the team won the program's first state championship with a thrilling 55-53 win over No. 3 Berlin in the CIAC Class M title game in front of 5,124.

With the game tied at 53 and with 12.8 seconds left on the clock, Bailey took an inbounds pass, drove into the lane, spun and hit a jumper from inside 10 feet to cap off the school's first state title in any sport since 1984.

”We could never give up,” said Mahoney, who finished with 22 points, as did Bailey. “It wasn't an option.”

It wasn't an option, even after the Bobcats (25-2) went the first five and a half minutes of the third quarter without a field goal.

Even after they missed three shots from close range on a 3-on-1 break midway through the third.

Even after the 6-foot-1 inch Bailey had two of her shots blocked in the same possession.

Even after Mahoney hobbled off the court briefly with a leg injury.

Even after Mary Corrado was called for a technical foul for arguing with an official with under three minutes left.

Even after McKenzie Hyde joined her on the bench after fouling out with 1:58 remaining.

The Bobcats showed their resiliency on the state's biggest stage, taking their first lead since the end of the first quarter when Mahoney made a pair of free throws with 3:09 left to cap off a 17-7 run.

Shortly after, Corrado was called for a technical, further riling a team that was looking for any reason to get more excited than they already were.

With 1:21 left, the Redcoats (21-6) inbounded the ball to Kaitlyn Bovee, who made a layup and drew a foul on Kelly Dixon, who was trying to draw a charge.

Bovee missed the free throw and Bailey was fouled on the other end with 56 seconds left. Her first free throw hit every part of the rim before falling to tie it and the second gave the Bobcats the lead, 51-50.

Bovee drove the lane and Dixon again stepped in on her, this time successfully drawing a charge to regain possession for Bacon.

Bailey hit two more free throws to go up three, but Alexys Vazquez answered with a deep 3-pointer with less than 20 seconds left.

Bacon called its final timeout with 12.8 seconds left to draw up a play.

”Either Brooke or Katie, that's where we wanted it,” Bacon coach Dave Shea said. “And they wanted it, too. If you're a competitor, you want (the ball). State championship game, coming down to the wire …”

So Bailey drove the lane and put up the shot that will live on in Colchester lore, something Bailey is familiar with.

“In 2001, the girls' team went to the championship game (a Class M loss to Plainville) and were really tight,” Bailey said. “In (1981), coach (Shea) took the boys' to the title game and they won (Class S over Canton). He said they were very loose and we wanted to capture that kind of energy and excitement. It worked.”

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