AUBURN — For a few brief moments in the fourth quarter Thursday night, it all went the way of the St. Dom’s girls’ basketball team.

The Saints seized momentum and built a seven-point lead and seemingly were sitting pretty with four-plus  minutes remaining. Then it all went wrong.

Madison rallied with 10 straight points as the Saints collapsed in the final minutes. The Bulldogs rallied for an impressive 34-31 win.

“We didn’t execute well in the fourth quarter,” said St. Dom’s coach Paul Rheaume. “We made a little run to get up by a few points. Then they just ran off a bunch right at the end, and we just couldn’t recover.”

The Saints shot just 4-for-18 in the fourth and missed their last nine shots. St. Dom’s also turned the ball over six times.

“We had too many turnovers,” said Rheaume. “We’d get a good rebound or get a good stop, but then we’d turn the ball over.”

The tandem of Jennifer Brown and Samantha Bruce helped shoot the Bulldogs (4-2) back into the game. Bruce hit a jumper to cut the lead to five. Then Brown hit a jumper and followed that with a game-tying 3-pointer. Brown finished with 13, and Bruce had 10.

“In the second half, we played a lot better and played with way more confidence,” said Brown.

Allaina Murphy led the Saints (3-3) with 18 while Mary Caron added eight.

“We got down a little bit, but we battled back,” said Madison coach Al Veneziano, whose team overcame  2-for-19 shooting in the first quarter. “I thought they handled a lot of things very well tonight. We got great leadership out of Lyndsay Weese and Jennifer Brown. They were willing to take shots. Once they started to fall, I think things went well.”

The Saints built a 31-24 lead with 4:43 left and seemingly had control of the game. Madison had been within a point but two bad turnovers led to a Murphy basket and a Caron hoop. Then Caron scored on a fast break for the seven-point advantage. Madison opened the quarter hitting just one of its first six shots.

One constant all night for Madison was its defense and intensity. The Bulldogs played hard and outhustled the Saints when it mattered most, especially on defense.

“We talked about winning the third quarter and winning the fourth quarter,” said Veneziano. “By our play, I thought we did that. I thought they played as aggressively as I’ve seen them.”

After the Saints scored with 4:43 left, they never scored again and struggled to execute offensively. Meanwhile, Madison continued to rally. Bruce hit a jumper with 4:23 left to make it 31-26.  Brown’s jumper with 3:40 left made it a three-point game. Then Brown had an open look with 3:08 left to tie it.

“I was very nervous,” said Brown, one of only two seniors on the club. “I had to get it. I had to shoot it. If I didn’t, I would not have been pleased.”

The Saints were plagued by missed shots and turnovers down the stretch. St. Dom’s would get a shot, miss and watch the Bulldogs grab the rebound.

It was an offensive board by Kristen Wood with 2:41 left that put Madison ahead for good. Weese hit a free throw with 2:02 left.

“Our defense has been carrying us but in the second half, we didn’t play very good defense,” said Rheaume. “We were pretty week on defense, and we gave up too many rebounds.”

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