AUBURN – Allie Clukey knew it was time to make a move.

With regulation winding down and the game tied, the Bangor senior guard looked for a play to make. When nobody else was open, she decided to do it herself.

Clukey made a quick step by an Edward Little defender and burst down the open lane for a layup with 40 seconds left Saturday night. Her basket lifted Bangor to a 33-30 win over the Red Eddies.

“The people down low cleared out and left the lane open,” said Clukey. “So I saw that and just went for it. I thought if not now, we might not get another chance. Each possession was very important.”

Edward Little couldn’t answer that basket. EL had a leaner from Kirsten Prue, but it didn’t fall. Bangor’s Amy Hackett was able to pad the lead from the free throw line and made it 33-29. A Prue free throw with five seconds left cut it to three points. EL had one last gasp when Bangor missed a free throw, but EL’s pass up court went out of bounds off Bangor at midcourt. It gave Prue a heave with less than a second remaining, but it bounced off the back of the rim.

“We didn’t get Kirsten enough shots,” said EL coach Craig Jipson. “The Hackett kid did a good job on her. We didn’t screen real well for her. We missed a lot of easy shots. There were some kids that were averaging six, seven or eight points a game that didn’t score, and we need those kids to step up a little.”

Prue finished with nine for EL (7-7). Alyssa Levesque added six and Dawna Daigle had five. Bangor (11-3) was led by Clukey with nine and Amy Hackett with eight. The Rams beat EL in the Eastern A prelims last year and handed them a 51-36 loss earlier in the season.

“I can’t say enough about the defensive performance,” said Jipson. “They’re a team that scores in the 60s. They’ve got some upperclassmen that are great players. Up there, their post players really hurt us, but (Abby) Downs, (Katelyn) St. Hilaire, (Kayla) Cummings, (Miranda) Martin and Daigle did a phenomenal job on them inside.”

After a 16-16 half, EL opened a 25-19 lead in the third quarter. Bangor erased that with a Clukey basket and three-point play from Stephanie Comstock to end the third. A basket by Levesque opened the lead up again, but a Clukey 3-pointer tied it with 6:20 left. Another Levesque score made it 29-27, but Meagan Doucette tied it with a layup. EL had numerous chances to take the lead but missed shots or turned the ball over in the closing minutes.

After EL’s defense preserved the tie with consecutive defensive stops, Clukey found space for one moment.

“We were playing such great defense the whole game,” said Jipson. “We just didn’t execute defensively in the last minute and let that kid go in for a layup.”