JAY — It wasn’t pretty, but Mt. Blue defeated Spruce Mountain 40-29 in a KVAC girls’ basketball tilt Thursday evening.

The Cougars pulled away from the Phoenix at the free-throw line, making 14 of 22 free throws in the fourth quarter. Mt. Blue made 11 of its first 14 at the line in the period to turn a 24-20 lead into a 37-25 cushion.

“Their zone was really tough to score against,” Mt. Blue coach Fred Conlogue said, “and I think, basically, it came down to making the foul shots.

“It was nice to come in here and get that win.”

The Cougars made one field goal in the fourth. They also made only one in the opening quarter, which finished with Spruce on top, 3-2.

“Field goals have been tough for us the whole season, to it‘s not a surprise,” Conlogue said. “We have played pretty good defense all year, we just have struggled to put the ball in the hoop.”

The Phoenix also struggled shooting at the start. All three of their first-quarter points came at the line.

Spruce’s Haley Turcotte hit a 3-pointer early in the second quarter. That didn’t exactly open the floodgates, but it did thaw out both teams’ shooting strokes a bit.

Freshman Lexi Mittelstadt scored Mt. Blue’s first seven points of the quarter, her 3-pointer giving the Cougars their first lead at 9-8.

Turcotte hit a long trey later in the quarter, and Spruce went into halftime with a 14-13 advantage.

Mt. Blue took a 20-16 lead midway through the third quarter, but Alex Bessey made a free throw and a 3-pointer to tie the score at 20-20.

Then the Cougars took control. Over the final two minutes of the third and the first five-and-a-half minutes of the fourth, they held the Phoenix without a field goal and outscored them 14-2.

“In the fourth quarter, they make a couple shots, they make a couple free throws, we’re not making anything,” Spruce Mountain coach Zach Keene said, “and before you know it, it’s a 10-point game.”

Bessey finished with a game-high 22 points, but she had to work hard for every point as Mt. Blue’s defense was focused on slowing her down.

“I thought Lexi Mittelstadt and Kayleigh Fontaine did a great job on Bessey, forcing her to take shots that were tough to make,” Conlogue said.

“It wasn’t just those two players, they all were playing great help defense,” Conlogue added. “We called it a lazy man defense for the other forwards, so they were able to help … just to take up space and occupy and make it difficult for them.”

Fontaine had to take over the responsibility when Mittelstadt went to the bench in the third quarter with her third foul. Most of the rest of the time, the freshman guarded Spruce’s senior standout.

“Well, she’s a very good player, so obviously it’s going to be hard, and it was very hard,” Mittelstadt said, “but I just knew that her primary move was to attack every time, so I just tried to stay square to her and not give her that.”

Bessey was the only Phoenix player to score in the second half. Turcotte had Spruce’s other seven points, including two long 3-pointers.

“We couldn’t make a shot, for one,” Keene said. “And it was a very physical, physical basketball game.

“But Mt. Blue did a good job. They had a game plan to be physical and they did it, and they were very good with it. They packed it in, they made it really tough on our scorers, for sure.

“They’re just a really physical, tough basketball team, and they showed that tonight.”

Mittelstadt and Rebecca Harmon paced Mt. Blue’s balanced attack with nine points each. Leah St. Laurent added eight and Kasadie Barker scored six.

“We stayed composed the whole game and really worked on passing the ball fast, and that was the key to the game, and not making it a one-person show,” Mittelstadt said. “That’s what really helped us a lot.”

Mt. Blue (5-10) is one spot out of the Class A North playoffs with three games left. The Cougars finish with home games against Oxford Hills (Saturday) and Nokomis (next Thursday) and at Skowhegan on Tuesday.

The Phoenix (5-11) have little room for error in B South. They’ll need to win their final two games, at Leavitt on Tuesday and at MCI next Thursday, to have any hope of passing Lisbon and Oak Hill for the final postseason berth.