JAY — Not bad for one team held hostage by the flu and another dealing with two injured starters and a quiet night for its leading scorer.

Dirigo watched a seven-point lead slip away in the final two minutes of regulation before stealing it back with the first seven points of overtime, warding off Jay, 59-55, in an MVC girls’ basketball showdown.

Hannah Knight, held to four points prior to OT, hit 5-of-6 from the line to open the extra session and send the Cougars (7-2) to their third straight victory.

“It means everything right now,” said Dirigo junior Paige Murphy, who scored seven of her 13 points in the fourth quarter and overtime.

Alyssa Wade erupted for 19 points and 10 steals to lead Dirigo, which has taken out two of the hottest teams in the league over the last four nights.

Dirigo’s 39-38 triumph over Mountain Valley snapped the Falcons’ four-game winning streak. Jay (7-2) had won seven straight since an opening-night loss to Livermore Falls.

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Jay’s two most experienced and explosive players fought valiantly through sickness.

Beth Moore scored a game-high 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for the Tigers. Moore scored seven in the fourth period, including an inside bucket with 31 seconds remaining that sent the issue to overtime tied 49-all.

Alexis Blodgett was introduced as a starter, then returned to the bench after the opening tap and sat out the entire first half. She finished with four points.

“Beth probably shouldn’t have been out there. Her temperature today was 103. She battled it out,” Jay coach Chris Bessey said. “I definitely have to commend our effort, coming back and tying it and sending it into overtime and giving ourselves a chance.”

Turnovers plagued both teams (60 combined) and were Dirigo’s worst enemy during the Jay rally. The Cougars gave it up 14 times in the fourth quarter to counteract their solid 5-for-8 shooting from the field.

Erin Turner’s open 12-footer — a shot Dirigo coach Reggie Weston admittedly didn’t want her to take, at first — provided the Cougars’ final points of regulation and a 49-42 advantage with 2:10 to go.

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Moore used the offensive glass for Jay’s answer on its ensuing trip. After Alannah White tied up possession under the Dirigo basket to give Jay the ball, Alexi Deering cashed in another offensive rebound and cut it to three.

Dirigo also missed a lay-up, threw the ball out of bounds and was called for a player control foul in the final minute. Ashlee Quirrion sank one of two free throws for Jay to set up Moore’s equalizer.

“We have a young team. We’re going to make mistakes,” Weston said. “They came through. I don’t know what was going on over on the other side, but like I told them, you’ve still got to play against their top five girls. They stepped up. They finally hit some foul shots.”

Led by Knight, who scored seven of her nine points from the stripe, Dirigo was 13-of-17 from the line on the night. Jay went 15-for-28.

Murphy also delivered a steal and a lay-up in OT, inflating the Cougars’ margin to 56-49 with 1:05 to go.

Jay snuck within three on buckets by Deering and Moore. Deering fouled out in the Tigers’ next defensive stint, however, and Wade compounded the loss with two free throws.

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“We talked it out. Not yelling at each other like we used to do,” Wade said of Dirigo’s resurgence in overtime. “We were very stressed, and I think that was one of our problems. We realized, calm down, we‘ve got this.”

Dirigo trailed by as many as four in a back-and-forth first half. The Cougars also lost starter Miranda Shurtleff to a thumb injury before scoring nine straight points, including two buckets by Wade and a Murphy 3-pointer, for a 20-15 lead.

That cushion stayed at five, 25-20, at the half, and the Cougars tacked on transition hoops by Wade and Knight to start the third period. Wade had six points and three thefts in that quarter.

“She doesn’t run out of gas, does she?“ Weston said of Wade. “Of course having Hannah, they’ve got to cover her, and Wade, she’s really stepped up this year. She’s come a long way.”

In addition to Shurtleff being sidelined, Weston said Murphy is recovering from back problems that have slowed her the first half of the season.

Sophomore Kayla Gaudin added 10 points off the bench for Dirigo.

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Stepping up for Jay to spell their sick teammates were Deering (nine points, 18 rebounds, four steals), Brittany DiPompo (eight points), Quirrion (seven points) and White (four steals). The Tigers carved out a 50-22 rebounding advantage.

Jay has a short time to heal up for its Thursday rematch with Livermore Falls.

“We’ve got to get there healthy, get everybody drinking their own juice and washing their hands often,” Bessey said.

koakes@sunjournal.com


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