LEWISTON — Enough was enough.

After two weeks of nail-biters and even a loss, the defending state champion Lewiston girls weren’t leaving anything to chance Wednesday against a team jostling with them for second place in the Eastern division.

Marisa Zamrock controlled the first period with a natural hat trick and finished with four goals, and three others joined her through the rest of the game as the Blue Devils shut out the Leavitt Hornets 8-0 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

“It was a critical game for us; it was a swing game,” Lewiston coach Ron Dumont said. “We’ve been trying to find our stride, and we’ve started top play with the lines a little bit since the beginning of the year to find out what works best.”

The Hornets’ two wins this season were both shutout wins over Greely, a contender a year ago.

“We knew they’d picked up some good players,” Dumont said of Leavitt. “We figured they’d be much improved over last season.”

One of those players in particular, Kara Violette, made life difficult for the Blue Devils all game. Thanks in part to Taylor Teixeira, who didn’t register a point but saved a few as a defensive forward, the speedster with a solid shot had a hard time reaching Lewiston’s net.

“We talked a lot about angling this week, and playing solid defense as a team,” Dumont said.

“There are so many players who know each other from both teams. It’s hard for the girls to play against this team,” Leavitt coach Christine Vincent said.

With neither team seizing control early, Zamrock finally broke through on a breakaway at 6:59 on a feed from Natalie Rousseau.

After that one, the goals kept coming. Zamrock scored her second at 9:02 when she crashed the net on a Kristen Lacasse shot, and she netted her third at 10:55 on a nifty backhander from in tight on the right side.

“I told her after the game, that was a complete game from her,” Dumont said.

The Blue Devils outshot the Hornets 12-4 in the opening frame, and keeper Sarah Turner turned all four aside to preserve the shutout.

In the second, Bianca Langelier potted the Devils’ next two, both from the low slot. The first was on a slick feed from Zamrock from behind the net, and the second was on a cross-ice feed from Emilie Cloutier. Rousseau completed the second-period scoring with a shot that beat Leavitt goal Brianna Stanley as she fell to the ice in the right side faceoff dot to the goaltender’s left.

Sara Marden and Zamrock scored in the third to fill out the scoresheet.