DIXFIELD — Forty fouls and the Friday night setting gave the Dirigo-Mountain Valley girls’ basketball game a hint of football intensity.

Even the finish flaunted a little bit of gridiron sensibility. You know the old radio announcer’s bromide that the last team with the ball is probably going to win? Well, this was sort of the opposite.

Leading by two, Dirigo was whistled for a bump nearly 30 feet away from the Mountain Valley basket, just in front of the jammed DeFoe Gym bleachers, with four-tenths of a second remaining.

Ayla Allen stepped to the line and swished the front end of her one-and-one. Her bid to force overtime veered right, brushed off the rim and into the hands of Angela Ronan as the horn signified a 39-38 Cougars victory.

“We just had a little luck on our side this time,” Dirigo coach Reggie Weston said.

Dirigo (6-2) needed more than a friendly message from a fortune cookie to rally from an 11-point halftime deficit with multiple starters in foul trouble.

Alyssa Wade started both the third and fourth quarters with a 3-pointer to ignite the Cougars’ offense. And when Mountain Valley (5-3) had the ball, the quickness of Dirigo’s four-guard set and the ever-changing looks of its match-up zone started giving the Falcons fits.

“We just had to keep working harder,” Wade said. “We stepped our defense, all of us as a team.”

The Cougars used an 11-0 run spanning the final 90 seconds of the third period and the first five minutes of the fourth to clutch a 36-32 lead.

In addition to Wade’s second 3-pointer, Miranda Shurtleff added a steal and a coast-to-coast drive to beat the third-period buzzer, plus two go-ahead free throws with 4:04 left.

Anyone who has paid attention to these neighboring rivals in any sport knew the Falcons weren’t finished.

Lindsay Gallant’s short jumper in the paint cut the deficit to two points. Allen knocked down the first of two free throws to get the Falcons within one.

Makayla White then blocked a Dirigo shot into the hands of Allen, who raced end-to-end for a lay-up and a 37-36 Mountain Valley lead with 1:05 left.

Dirigo pushed the ball up the court and drew Mountain Valley’s 10th foul of the half. Hannah Knight sank both segments of the double-bonus to give the Cougars the lead for keeps with 57.9 seconds remaining.

The final minute leading up to the decisive free throws was the game in miniature.

There were two exchanges of steals. Dirigo missed 3-of-4 free throws that could have iced it.

Mountain Valley also had a possession with two potential game-winning shots. One missed everything but trickled through a Dirigo player’s hands to keep the Falcons alive. The second rattled in-and-out before deflecting out of bounds, last touched by Mountain Valley.

Knight hit another free throw to make it a two-point game with 6.9 seconds left.

“I just told them they didn’t lose that game at the end. I know Ayla feels bad, but that didn‘t cost us the game,” Mountain Valley coach Rich Allen said. “We went in at halftime with an 11-point lead and playing pretty well, and we’ve been a pretty good second-half team. Usually the first half is our worse half, but not tonight.”

Wade scored seven of her team-high 10 points in the second half for Dirigo. Knight added nine points and 10 rebounds. Shurtleff chipped in six points and four steals.

Allen led Mountain Valley with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Dirigo held everyone else to six points or fewer. McKenzie Paterson made five steals for the Falcons.

“We got a little bit behind, but because of that we put some pressure on them in the second half,” Weston said. “We started doing some half-court traps and full-court press. We tried to mix it up a little bit and tried to keep their offense off-balance.”

Neither offense found a fabulous flow, in part due to the physical nature of the game and the frequent whistles.

Dirigo led 9-8 after one quarter before going 0-for-9 from the floor and falling into a 22-11 halftime hole.

The Cougars finished 11-for-41 (27 percent) from the field and 15-of-31 (48 percent) at the line. Mountain Valley’s numbers were similar: 12-for-50 and 13-for-21.

Eight offensive rebounds and nine Mountain Valley turnovers abetted Dirigo’s comeback in the third quarter.

“(Dirigo) played hard, and a little bit of fear and tightness set in,” Coach Allen said. “Next thing you know we’re throwing it all over the place. They’ve got the momentum. They’re hustling to get rebounds and second opportunities.”

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