FARMINGTON — Mt. Blue turned in a solid performance for three quarters before Nokomis caught up with the Cougars down the stretch in the fourth and quashed Mt. Blue’s chances for an appearance in the postseason.

The Cougars had the Warriors on the ropes, but Mt. Blue’s well went dry in the last stanza, allowing the Nokomis to pull away with a 43-31 victory in a girls’ basketball game Friday night.

Mt. Blue (5-13) didn’t score a point in the fourth quarter, which was surprising because the Cougars had no problem staying just one step ahead of the Warriors (14-4) for the first three quarters.

“We played our best game of the season, I felt,” Mt. Blue coach Fred Conlogue said. “Everyone contributed. I thought the seniors, especially in the first half, played amazingly — all seven of them. The bench played just incredible.

“We were riding that energy right through the third quarter and the offense went dry. It was 36-31 and we started to foul them to get the ball back,. They made their foul shots and we just couldn’t put the ball in the hoop.”

The Cougars led 22-21 at halftime and turned in a stunning performance in the first quarter when freshman Lexi Mittelstadt landed back-to-back 3-pointers to keep Mt. Blue in contention on Senior Night. Of course, it helped that Cougars received strong performances from their bench and played strong defense until the fourth quarter.

But the Warriors built a narrow 32-31 lead at the end of the third quarter before Mt. Blue’s offense came undone. Senior Kasadie Barker led the Cougars with nine points followed Mittelstadt’s eight.

For the Warriors, Sidney Moore threw in the game-high 11 points and teammate Chelsea Crockett had 10 points.

“So we came in at halftime…and we challenged them,” Nokomis coach Michelle Paradis said. “We tried to tell them don’t even look at the score when you come out. It’s 0-0. We are starting a very new game and challenged them on defense.

“We have been going totally down and up, down and up and we are trying to go up the uphill slope of returning to where our defense was. So we are getting there, but it is has been slow.”

Mt. Blue’s Hannah LeClair (15) looks for an opening to pass the ball around Nokomis’s Gabrielle Lord (22) in a basketball game in Farmington on Friday.Mt. Blue senior guard Leah St. Laurent (23) goes up for a shot as teammate Kasadie Barker (22) watches in a basketball game in Farmington on Friday night.Mt. Blue’s Renee Solis (20) tries to take the ball past Nokomis’s Gabrielle Lord (22) in a basketball in Farmington on Friday.Mt. Blue’s Lexi Mittelstadt watches the ball slip away and go out of bounds in basketball game against Nokomis in Farmington on Friday night.

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