SOUTH PARIS — When the shooting slump ended, it came to a quick halt for the Mt. Blue girls’ basketball team Thursday.

The Cougars had the cold shooting hand and fell behind by double digits, but suddenly found the touch in the third quarter. As a result, Mt. Blue rallied from behind and claimed a 38-34 win over Oxford Hills.

“It was very important because we know the potential we have as a team and finally tonight we executed and did it together,” said junior Gabby Foy, who led the Cougars with a game-high 13 points.

Mt. Blue used runs of 7-0 and 11-0 in the third quarter to turn a 21-13 halftime deficit into a 33-26 lead after three quarters. The Cougars shot 9-for-16 in the third to turn things around.

“We’ve been in a slump,” said Mt. Blue Coach Tom Philbrick. “We had the shots up in Bangor Tuesday but we were 6-for-52 from the floor. We were 5-for-26 in the first half tonight. Then we came out of it. We’re a good shooting team, but we sort of doubt ourselves.”

Miranda Nicely added 12 points for the Cougars (2-3) while Amy Hilton added six.  The Vikings (2-3) got 12 from Alex Rowe and eight from Brooke Murch. Oxford Hills was playing without guard Abbie Eastman for the second straight game.

“She does a lot of things in this game that helps them,” said Philbrick. “I’ve got to take my hat off to the players that came in there for Oxford Hills and played that role. They did a great job.”

The Vikings were even able to open up the lead in the second quarter and appeared in good shape. Rowe had a strong first half with 10 points while Kelsey DeBlois had six during a 9-3 run that built the 21-13 lead at the half.

“We executed very well in the first half and even early in the second half,” said Oxford Hills coach Nate Pelletier. “We got a little tired in the second half. They’re very athletic and probably more athletic than us. When they were running, we were trying to get back. We got tired. They went on a run and we couldn’t stop them.”

After a Rowe drive early in the third, the Vikings were up 25-15. The Vikings shot 2-for-14 in the third quarter and didn’t get another field goal until 2:10 left in the fourth quarter.

“We’ve been in that situation before,” said junior guard Amy Hilton. “We just had to come out as strong as we could and work together.”

The Cougars had moved the ball well offensively in the first half but just couldn’t get the shots to drop. Mt. Blue started to look tentative and struggled to get any consistency going. That changed in the second half.

“Once we start to get going, its a little easier to keep the momentum,” said Hilton. “You can see when the other team’s down. When you score some in a row, you can feed off what they’re giving you.”

The Cougars got a 3 from Hilton and baskets by Foy inside to cut the lead to 25-22. After a  free throw by Mikayla Morin, the Vikings didn’t score again until the fourth.

Nicely scored on a fast break. Mackenzie Conlogue hit a baseline jumper to tie it. Then Foy scored on a drive and Nicely extended the lead with a short jumper. Foy added an exclamation point with a 3 in the final minute.

“We couldn’t stop them,” said Pelletier, whose team missed its first 10 shots in the fourth and finished 3-for-18 in the quarter. “(Foy) took over the game. “Our game plan was to take her out of the game, and we couldn’t.”

After two Foy free throws started the fourth, making it 35-26, the Vikings got a pair of Murch baskets to close the gap to 35-32.  Though the Cougars missed some key free throws down the stretch, Mt. Blue remained poised and made the key plays to preserve the lead.

“Once we got our confidence, it just kind of goes,” said Foy. “We’ve played together so long that we know what we need to do to win.”

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