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Briann Emery, right, of Madison scrambles for a loose ball with Amanda Gifford of Lee Academy during the second half of Lee's 59-47 victory in the Class C girls' basketball state championship game Wednesday night at the Augusta Civic Center.

AUGUSTA -- The Madison girls started five seniors this season, and all of them were fully aware that Wednesday night´s Class C state final was their last game together.

Trailing Lee Academy by 13 points, the Bulldogs went on an all-or-nothing run, scoring nine straight points to get within four with plenty of time left in the fourth quarter.

But it was also the last game for Lee´s all-senior starting five, and as Madison´s Margo Russell prepared to take a free throw in the middle of that stretch, Lee guard Amanda Gifford glanced at a teammate and said, "We´re not gonna lose this."

Thanks to Gifford, Brooke Harris, Aarika Ritchie and Karin Bird, Lee didn´t. Those four Pandas combined for the next 11 points as Lee salted away a 59-47 victory at the Augusta Civic Center.

It's the second consecutive state title for Lee (19-3), which won the Class D Gold Ball last year. Madison, which has never won a boys' or girls' basketball state title, finished 20-2.

"I can´t even talk right now -- I´m so emotional," said Gifford, who finished with 18 points and created several steals. "Senior year, there´s nothing left. We wanted to leave it all on the floor."

The teams appeared evenly matched from the outset. Madison had an inside advantage with Russell, a 5-foot-10 senior, but Lee also had some firepower. The Pandas often used two players on Russell, but she still finished with 25 points, 14 rebounds and three blocked shots.

"Our hope was that we could play defense enough on the interior to force them to either shoot the 15-footer or the (3-pointer)," Lee Coach Ron Weatherbee said. "We haven´t played much zone this year, but we played some zone, even thinking, 'Hey, if we pack it in and have them shoot, it's 15 feet. See if they can make those.' "

In the first half, Madison made enough of those shots to take a 22-21 lead. Lacey Ashbrook (10 points) made two 3-pointers in the first quarter, and Briann Emery also made a 3 in the second quarter.

In the final minute of the first half, Emery made a brilliant play to save a rebound from going out of bounds and, in the same motion, hit a cutting Ashbrook for a layup. When Jessica Hayden followed with a short jumper, Madison led at the break.

Madison pushed that lead to three points when Ashbrook began the third quarter with a driving layup, but the Pandas won the game in the next five minutes.

Gifford, a lefty shooter who is heading to Bates College, hit three straight baskets to give Lee a 27-24 lead. Dana Houghton (12 points) began knocking down jumpers from the right corner, and the Pandas began showing their offensive talents.

In all, Lee had five players score baskets in the third quarter, combining to shoot 9 for 15. After scoring just 21 points in the first half, the Pandas put 24 on the board in the third quarter to go ahead 45-33.

"In that first half, we had some good looks. We just didn´t finish at times," Weatherbee said. "In the second half, Dana, for one, made a number of shots from 10, 12, 14 feet that she missed in the first half."

While Lee was on fire, Madison went cold. The Bulldogs committed four straight turnovers after Ashbrook´s basket, then followed that up by missing three consecutive 3-pointers as the lead slipped away. Russell, meanwhile, went nearly four minutes without taking a shot.

"(The 3-pointers) were the same shots we took earlier, and they did go in, so you´ve got to feel good about those," Madison Coach Al Veneziano said. "I always look to go inside, but that´s a decision they´re making on the run. They went earlier, we´ll accept that."

Lee led 48-35 with a little more than five minutes to play before Madison went on its 9-0 run. All nine points were scored by Russell, who had 19 of the Bulldogs´ 25 points after the break.

Russell´s points came...