LEWISTON – They didn’t do what they wanted to do in the final quarter Tuesday night, but the Lewiston Blue Devils did what they had to do.

The Blue Devils watched Gardiner try to rally in the final quarter in a battle of unbeatens, but Lewiston managed to hold off the comeback for a 60-48 win over the Tigers.

“This is a wonderful win for us,” said Lewiston coach Jim Hood, whose team was ranked seventh in the Eastern A Heals, two spots behind Gardiner. “We played real hard. They played real hard. They were a great team, and I knew they were a great team. We just had to go out and show that we were going to play with a little more intensity.”

Lewiston (6-0) raced out to a 10-0 lead to start the game and had a double-digit advantage for much of the contest, but by the fourth quarter, Gardiner (5-1) started to get in sync. The Tigers used an 11-2 run to open the fourth and got within four points with 4:15 left.

“In the fourth quarter we got down to (four) points with a few minutes to go and then we couldn’t score again,” said Gardiner coach Heath Cowan, whose team took advantage of its inside game in the fourth. “We’ll learn from it. We’ll get better.”

Lewiston only managed six shots from the floor in the final quarter, hitting just one in the closing seconds. The Blue Devils weren’t as prolific in the half-court game as they were earlier in the game and couldn’t get much of a transition game rolling. Lewiston still managed to stay poised and do the right things to preserve the lead. Lewiston took advantage of Gardiner’s aggressive defense, drawing a number of fouls in the fourth on the offensive end. The Blue Devils padded the lead by hitting 8-of-13 free throws in the final quarter.

“Down the stretch, we made our foul shots,” said Hood. “I was happy that we did alright then. We missed a couple that I was hoping we’d get, but we did alright at the end when we needed them.”

Amanda Bryant led all scorers with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Katie Morin chipped in 11 while Kelsey Varney had a solid outing with nine points, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals. Caitlyn Anthoine added eight. Gardiner was led by Becky Dixon with 15 and Alyce Pepin had 14.

Gardiner got as close as 52-48 midway through the quarter after hitting five of their first six shots in the quarter. The Tigers had the chance to get closer but missed a couple of field goals and free throws.

“This basketball team shoots the ball much better than we did,” said Cowan. “We didn’t make shots, and Lewiston hit everything.”

Though Lewiston didn’t get many field goal chances in the fourth, it was able to keep the lead going from the line. Katie Morin made it a five-point game with a free throw with 3:18 left. Bryant and Anthoine each hit a pair to build a 57-45 lead.

After the 10-0 run to start the game, Gardiner managed to get within two in the second. Lewiston cranked up the pace of the game and used its transition game to scored 12 points in less than two minutes, part of a 12-2 run. Bryant had 14 of her 20 in the first half.