enlarge John Ewing/Staff Photographer

The three Deering captains – Nicole Garland, left, Jessica Ruhlin, center, and Diana Manduca – show off their prize for winning the Western Class A girls’ basketball title Saturday.

enlarge John Ewing/Staff Photographer

Nicole Garland of Deering heads to the basket Saturday while fouled by Sloane Sorrell of Noble. Deering will meet Oxford Hills in the state final.

Twenty-four hours earlier, the Deering High girls’ basketball players had watched as Noble completed a stunning second-half comeback in a regional semifinal victory against South Portland.

Saturday night, the Rams would have none of that again.

Top-ranked Deering used its relentless defensive pressure to open a 16-point halftime lead, then pushed back every Noble comeback attempt to win the Western Class A championship with a 53-39 victory at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

Deering will play Oxford Hills in the Class A state championship game at 3 p.m. next Saturday at the Civic Center.

The Rams (19-2) forced 15 turnovers in the first half, and didn’t ease up to win their second regional championship in five years.

“Deering is a team that you always have to be alert and execute when you have the ball because they just don’t let you catch your breath,’’ said Knights Coach Kyle Keenan.

“They make it difficult for everyone.’’

That pressure forced nine Noble turnovers and Keenan to call three timeouts in the first period.

“We try to pressure the ball,’’ said Rams Coach Mike D’Andrea. “It changes every look, every pass; it changes everybody’s comfort level. We’ve done that and we try to maintain that.’’

Key to that pressure was limiting the touches by Sloane Sorrell, who had 26 points for Noble in the semifinals. The Knights were unable to get her the ball; she had only two shots in the first half and finished with 12 points.

Diana Manduca, presented the Edward “Red’’ McMann Award as the tournament’s outstanding player/sportsman, scored 15 points and keyed a first-quarter surge that enabled the Rams to pull away.

Noble (16-5) held a 6-4 lead after Margaret Burns (10 points) scored on an offensive rebound. Then Manduca hit two 3-pointers in a 30-second span to give the Rams a 10-6 lead.

After a Noble turnover, Kristal Saavedra scored on a foul-line jumper.

Then Manduca stole the ball and went in for a short jumper and it was 14-6 with 52 seconds left in the first.

Alyssa Stokes hit a 3-pointer to stop Deering’s run, but Nicole Garland hit a leaner at the buzzer to give Deering a 16-9 lead after the period.

The Rams then went on a 14-2 run to open the second quarter, making it 30-11.

“We usually step it up in the second half,’’ said Garland, who had a team-high 16 points. “But tonight we wanted to change that up.

“We wanted to come out strong, see if we could get the early lead and let them know they weren’t going to be able to come back.’’

“We knew,’’ said Manduca, “that when we came out in the second half we couldn’t slack off or take any breaks.’’

And they didn’t.

Noble, playing much stronger with the ball, twice cut the lead to nine in the third. Each time Deering responded, and still led 41-30 after three.

Kayla Burchill hit a jumper to start the fourth period, and Porscha Lewis added two foul shots, giving the Rams a 45-30 lead with 5:50 left in the game.

Deering sealed it at the foul line, going 10 of 14 down the stretch.

The Rams entered the season as regional favorites. Now they’ve got something more to play for.

“It’s nice to finally come through and meet expectations and achieve a goal,’’ said D’Andrea.

“But we’ve got one more game. That’s the ultimate goal. Our work is not done yet.’’

Staff Writer Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or at: mlowe@pressherald.com