FAIRFIELD — The Bulldogs pride themselves on old-school basketball, and they nipped the Rams with it Tuesday night.

Forward Brianna Poulin paved the way with a double-double inside, opening up the highway for the gunners from long range, as Lawrence pulled away to a decisive 69-53 win over Cony in a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A girls basketball game at Folsom Gym. The 5-foot-11 Poulin scored 14 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for the Bulldogs (2-1).

“Coach always tells me I’m too nice,” said Poulin, who was anything but that in the paint Tuesday. “I can be aggressive. I know I should be more aggressive, but sometimes it’s hard for me to play like that.”

“By the end of last year, (Poulin) was giving us some good minutes,” Lawrence coach Greg Chesley said. “This year, she’s just come out really well right from the beginning. I’m an old-school guy, and double-doubles excite me. To get a kid playing like that on the interior really excites me.”

Though Poulin is a senior, she is a bit of a welcome new face in the Lawrence lineup. Poulin missed 10 days of practices — as well as four games — as a junior while ill, and she’s wiped the slate clean for her final season.

“I didn’t really get the season I wanted last year, so I came into this season and wanted to be more present,” Poulin said. “I didn’t want to get mad about the little things. I just want to keep playing.”

Poulin dominated the paint in the first half against Cony (1-2), hauling down eight of her 13 rebounds in an opening 16 minutes that saw the home team out-rebound their guests by a 26-16 count prior to halftime. More than half of those boards — 14 of them — were on the offensive glass, while Cony managed just one offensive rebound through two quarters.

That helped ease some of the building tension as Lawrence held only a five-point lead at the break, 32-27, in part to a cold shooting start of 12 for 38 from the floor.

“I know I have to be there to rebound,” Poulin said, “but I trust my teammates that we’ll get going.”

After halftime, the Bulldogs did just that.

With Cony in foul trouble as the Rams sucked deeper into the paint to try and combat Poulin and Nadia Morrison (6 points, 6 rebounds), the Bulldogs were lights-out from the field in the third period.

A 9-of-17 effort from the floor — including back-to-back 3-pointers from Madalyn Provost and Ella Minihan in the final 40 seconds, the first from the right corner and the second from the left corner — capped a 12-3 run for a 52-37 Lawrence lead through three.

“In the second half, we went a little old school,” Chesley said. “Our bigs, they’re not very big. Our bigs played behind, and did some nice work with back-to-the basket, drop-step, finish.

“We stayed with the game plan of run and pound it inside when we get the opportunity. We always talk about the best shot being that inside-out, getting a touch inside or penetration in and kicking it out, that’s what we’re always looking for. We got several of those there in the third quarter.”

Senior guard Hope Bouchard’s team-high 19 points, including seven of those in the fourth quarter, cemented the Bulldogs win.

But it was Poulin’s big night, both figuratively and literally, that was the difference. Poulin’s final action of the night was a putback of a Provost miss for a 67-47 lead — Lawrence’s largest of the night — with 1:44 remaining.

Cony junior Morgan Cunningham led the Rams with 19 points, while sophomore Abby Morrill added 18.