AUBURN – It took well over two minutes to get the desired shot, but it proved worth the wait.

With the game tied Tuesday night and regulation winding down, the Oxford Hills girls’ basketball team wanted to get the ball inside to center Megan Joyce.

When an attempt late in regulation didn’t pay off, the Vikings tried again in overtime and got the long-awaited hoop. That put Oxford Hills in the driver’s seat, and the Vikings held on for a 38-33 win over Edward Little.

“That was our goal right in the beginning, to get the ball inside,” said Oxford Hills coach Nate Pelletier. “Megan got in some foul trouble early. So she had to sit. She picked up another foul in the third. When she got her fourth foul in the fourth, it didn’t matter. She was playing. She played hard and got some key baskets when it mattered.”

Joyce scored twice early in overtime to give the Vikings a 36-32 lead. In a game featuring two stellar defensive teams, the four-point advantage was a significant deficit.

“It really set our momentum,” said Joyce. “We haven’t been in overtime this season. Because of overtime, we were like, ‘What are we going to do?’ When we made that first basket, it really sent us forward.”

Joyce finished with a game-high 18 points and six rebounds. Lindsay Fox had 10 points and five rebounds while Laura Courcy added six points and nine rebounds.

EL (5-2) got 14 from Kayla Cummings and nine from Kirsten Prue.

“We’re just so undersized,” said EL coach Craig Jipson. “It’s so hard to stop Megan inside. We were fortunate that she had to sit a lot of the game because of foul trouble. Katelyn St. Hilaire did a nice job and Abby (Downs) did a nice job. We’re just undersized and unfortunately for us, it’s a good post league.”

EL rallied in the fourth and tied the game on a Cummings leaner and three-point play with 5:17 left. Prue put the Red Eddies ahead with 1:47 remaining on a short jumper. Fox answered for the Vikings (6-1) with a jumper at 1:33.

After an EL turnover with 1:18 left, the Vikings milked the clock and set up a last shot. With the final seconds of regulation ticking away, Joyce got the ball inside, but St. Hilaire fouled her before she got a shot with two seconds left. The bonus wasn’t in play and time ran out on the inbounds pass.

“Our guards played very well stalling the ball when we needed to,” said Pelletier. “Against a team like this, you’ve got to be able to stall. With a minute left, we were tied and I didn’t want to give them an opportunity to score.”

The Vikings won the tip in overtime and ran the clock down a full 1:01 before getting the ball to Joyce in the paint. She converted to break the tie.

“That’s what we needed,” said Joyce. “We’re a second half team. If we had played better in the first half, we wouldn’t have been in overtime.”

EL had a few chances to tie it but missed all four shots, including a Prue 3-point try from the corner. Joyce scored on baseline move with 48 seconds left. Prue provided EL’s only points in overtime with a free throw, but Fox finished the scoring in the final seconds.

“It was a big win for us,” said Pelletier. “I think the team’s confidence is up and that helps.”

The Vikings opened the largest lead of the game with a 24-18 lead in the third on seven points from Joyce, but EL rallied on scores by Cummings, Prue and St. Hilaire to take a 26-24 lead entering the fourth. Six straight points by Joyce built a 30-27 with 5:35 left.