DIXFIELD — One basket settled the score between Dirigo and Mt. Abram in a girls’ basketball game Thursday night.

Alyssa Wade dropped in a buzzer-beating 3-pointer as Dirigo maintained its composure to rally back for a 40-37 win against the Roadrunners.

The score was tied or charged sides eight times in the fourth quarter.

Dirigo (5-3) regained possession of the ball with a minute remaining and held the ball outside against the Mt. Abram zone before calling a timeout with 10.7 seconds left on the clock to set up a play.

“I was either going to drive or pull up and shoot,” said Wade, who had 13 points, five assists and five steals. “First, coach (Reggie Weston) had said wait until six seconds before setting things up, and I thought, ‘Wow!.’ Then Angela Ronan stepped out and set a screen. I took the shot and was just hoping it would go in.”

Mt. Abram frequently took command with inside baskets with its version of twin towers Annie Dexter and Miranda Smith who combined for 23 points. The Roadrunners deployed a 1-3-1 zone to slow the pace and controlled the paint on both ends.

“This is a tough one,” said Mt. Abram coach Doug Lisherness, whose team fell to 3-4. “I thought that our turnovers were down until the last four minutes. When the girls were in to the flow of the game and flashing to the basket, every thing was OK, but (pace) slowed down at crunch time and mistakes were made. But credit Dirigo because they took care of the ball.”

Dirigo made four of six free throws in the fourth quarter, including two each by Kayla Gaudin and Ronan (10 points, five rebounds). Freshman Jessica Conant (five points) hit a jump shot to tie the score at 35-all.

“Mt. Abram packed it in with their zone,” Weston said. “We needed to step up the pressure and I gave Kayla and Jessica a chance because of their height. We did try running a flex offense and was able to get some fade away shots.”

Mt. Abram was led by Dexter (13 points, nine rebounds) and Smith (10 points, six rebounds). A 9-0 run on baskets by Smith, Jill Howard (six points), Mikayla Luce (five points) and Dexter had given the Roadrunners a 31-25 lead at the end of three quarters. Conant buried a trey to tie the score at 25-all, but the Cougars (30 percent from the floor) missed their next five shots. Finally, a 6-0 run to start the fourth quarter tied the game at 31-all. Ronan scored from in the paint, Miranda Shurtleff (six points) hit a jumper and Ambyr Wilson (three assists, five steals) stole the ball and fed Wade for a layup.

Dirigo entered the game on a mission after having its four-game win streak snapped by Spruce Mountain. The teams play each other again, Saturday.

“We knew we needed to step it up,” Wade said. “Our intensity wasn’t there in the first half, so we needed to play better defense and get some steals.”

The Roadrunners shot 43 percent, but were just two of six from the charity stripe.