LIVERMORE FALLS – This is one of those rare six-degrees-of-separation seasons in Mountain Valley Conference girls’ basketball.

You know: It’s the theory that says if Florida won the national championship, Mississippi beat Florida, Wake Forest whipped Ole Miss, Navy nipped Wake and Notre Dame sank the Middies, then the Fighting Irish can stake a claim to at least one shard of glass in that crystal trophy.

Well, thank heaven there’s a mandated gathering at Augusta Civic Center next month that trumps the need for anything resembling a BCS. For these few weeks when bragging rights, Heal Points and style points seem to matter like oxygen, however, Livermore Falls’ authoritative, 59-44 win over Lisbon on Saturday night at least gives the Andies a whiff of the air atop the mountain.

“They’re the only team that’s beaten Jay,” Livermore Falls senior tri-captain Missi O’Connor said of the Greyhounds, “so we knew we had to win this.”

With the trifling exception of two quick Lisbon hoops to start the game and a modest third-quarter run, Livermore Falls (6-4) owned this chance to get a sliver of the pie from the opening tap.

Seven players scrawled at least two points in the scoring column in the first period for the Andies, and 10 girls contributed throughout.

O’Connor led the charge with 18 points. Hannah Therrien contributed 14 points and 10 rebounds. Kathryn Ventrella added eight points, as did Kendra Lyman, despite being knee-deep in foul trouble most of the evening.

The Andies forced 35 turnovers and limited Lisbon (6-4) to 15-for-56 (27 percent) from the field – and that included a 6-of-8 surge to start the second half.

“At our best we can beat anybody,” said Livermore Falls coach Frank Donald. “At less than our best anybody can beat us. With a one and a two-point loss right now, you wonder what it could be if we had those in the win column.”

Livermore Falls rallied from the early 5-0 deficit with 10 unanswered points in a span of 2:05 to take command.

Ventrella, O’Connor and Therrien all scored inside to give the Andies the lead for keeps. Lyman offered a glimpse at what would become the prevailing theme with a pair of steals that she turned into transition hoops.

“That’s what we need to work on, because we’re seventh in the (MVC) standings for defense but second for offense,” O’Connor said.

Lisbon was 4-for-26 from the field in the first half.

The No. 3 team in Western Class B couldn’t take advantage of the early foul difficulties that beset both teams, either. While Class C Livermore Falls swished a tidy 9-of-10 from the free-throw line in the first half, the Greyhounds ran hot-and-cold at 9-for-18 and retreated to the locker room on the wrong end of a 34-19 disparity.

Renee Moore led Lisbon with 11 points. Kelly Bourgoin tallied eight points and eight steals. Stephanie Smith and Sam Purcell served up seven points each.

Lisbon lurked within eight at 42-34 on the strength of two Purcell free throws with 2:07 remaining in the third period. The Andies’ defense buckled down for the duration, though, and made a brilliant swipe to trigger a momentum-killing three-point play in the closing seconds.

Kathrynn Lake plucked an errant Lisbon pass one step away from the baseline for one of her five steals. Lake batted the ball to Annika Durrell, who spotted O’Connor through traffic for the hoop-and-harm with four ticks remaining.

Four consecutive baskets made it an 11-0 run and a 53-34 lead with 6:11 to play.

“Our offense feeds off our defense,” Donald said. “We’ve played a lot of man-to-man the last couple of games. Switching back up to zone I think mixed them up at the end. They really didn’t want to shoot the ball except for the Moore girl.”