DIXFIELD —  It was Kelsey Hutchins and Jessica Conant who combined for 25 points as the Dirigo Cougars settled down to make a strong run in the second half and remained unbeaten Wednesday night in the Mountain Valley Conference with a 57-33 triumph over Mt. Abram at DeFoe Gymnasium.

Dirigo (4-0) broke the game open by engineering a 19-0 run that started by scoring the final eight points of the third and carried over in to the first three minutes in the fourth period to open-up a 55-28 lead.

Lauren Henderson started it with a drive across the baseline, Lindsey Crutchfield (7 points) drained a 3-pointer, Conant (18 points, five rebounds) stole the ensuing possession and scored. Emma Leuders (6 points, five steals) made a layup to end the third quarter.

”Mt. Abram deserves a lot of credit because they played well,” Dirigo coach Reggie Weston said. ”We were not playing well and we needed to have some one step up in the second half. We finally were able to start pushing the ball and finding the open players.”

Mt. Abram (1-4) has struggled this season, but utilized the shooting of guard Alex Harnden (16 points, four treys) to create havoc in the third period. The Roadrunners scored nine unanswered points to cut the deficit to 38-28. Alora Ross drained a trey and baskets by Brooke Millbury, Harnden and Olivia Ryan (five points, six rebounds).

Dirigo didn’t let up and scored the opening nine points of the fourth quarter and started with Hutchins’ (13 points, six rebounds) driving for a layup. Kelsey Wilson put back an offensive rebound and Conant scored twice and added a free throw.

”That’s our best effort this season,” said Mt. Abram coach Mark Simpson, who stepped in for longtime Roadrunners coach Doug Lisherness, retired. ”The third quarter had been bad for us. We was outscored 17-1 by Boothbay. So at halftime we told the girls to stay focused and not give Dirigo any easy baskets because that deflates this team.”

The Roadrunners, who turned the ball over 18 times in second half, was held scoreless until Millbury made a free throw, with 4:42 remaining in the game. They made 5 of 19 free throws and made one of eight shots in the fourth quarter.

”We are heading in the right dirrection,” said Simpson, whose program has 15 players, with 10 freshmen. ”We need to continue to play hard and keep our heads up.”

Dirigo had its shooting woes, missing nine straight shots at one stage and compounded this by blowing numerous bunnies. Finally, they proceed to finish in the second quarter. Baskets by Crutchfield, Conant Sabrina Daoud and Hutchins put the Cougars ahead 36-20 at halftime.

”In the beginning i think the girls were to keyed up,”Weston said. ”They needed to calm down and settle in. This is a very unselfish team because when some one is driving they are just as apt to dish it off.”

Mt. Abram had pulled to within 11 points on a pair of Harnden treys.

Dirigo displayed good ball movement committed 10 turnovers in the game, shot 34 percent from the floor and made 8 of 15 free throws.”