The Raiders had opened up their largest lead of the game with that last-minute surge, but St. Dom’s had given them a challenge for the first 16 minutes.

“Obviously, we weren’t playing well at all,” Oak Hill senior guard Sadie Goulet said. “Our game just wasn’t on. After our halftime talk, coach (Charlie Castonguay) really got it into our heads that we needed to pick it up.”

The Raiders nearly doubled the lead in the third quarter and finally pulled away for a 52-34 win over the Saints.

“They’ve played everybody tough here, they really have,” said Castonguay of St. Dom’s. “I told the girls coming in that you can’t look at this team’s record because these kids play hard.”

The Saints (2-6)  battled the Raiders (10-1) for much of the first half and were within three late in the half.

“I think it was a very good game,” St. Dom’s coach Jon Berry said. “We had two starters out against Monmouth and Boothbay. Out of necessity, the inexperienced kids that were even more inexperienced had to come in and play more varsity time. They have blossomed.”

Brianna Mulherin led the Raiders with 21 points and nine rebounds, while Sadie Goulet added 10 points and nine boards. St. Dom’s got 25 from Faith Grady. The Saints were playing without guard Allie Veinote and had starters Grady and Chloe Dwinell out at various times because of injuries.

“What I love about this group is that they’re coachable,” Berry said. “They’re smart. They work hard. They have great attitudes. No matter what they’re thrown into, they work as hard as they can and they get better.”

The Raiders beat the Saints 60-28 in the season opener but struggled to open the lead in the first half. St. Dom’s provided some pesky defensive play. Oak Hill had a dozen turnovers in the first half and shot just 11-for-33. The Raiders couldn’t get their running game going and struggled to finish in the half-court. Meanwhile, Grady was keeping the Saints within reach. She had 14 of her team’s 17 points in the first half.

A Mulherin rebound in the final seconds gave Oak Hill an 11-6 lead after one quarter. Then the Raiders hit just one of its first six shots in the second quarter. Though a basket by Jamie Prue had opened a 15-8 lead, a pair of baskets by Grady got the Saints within 15-12.

A Mulherin 3 built the lead back to 20-14. A free throw by Grady and a fast break basket by Olivia Mayo made it 20-17 with 46 seconds left in the half.

After a Mulherin free throw, Iris Abbott sank a free throw, and Oak Hill got the rebound on the second shot. That led to a Vanessa Wright basket inside. Then Danielle Samson converted a steal for a 6-0 run.

“That 6-0 run happened with three starters on the bench,” Berry said. “One was because of fouls. We gave them a live ball turnover and gave them a ball underneath the basket.”

Instead of being up by three, the Raiders had their largest lead of the game at that point, 26-17.

“That spurt at the end of the first half, that was nice,” Castonguay said. “We ran off six straight points. We did it in stretches. We just needed to extend those stretches.”

The Raiders outscored the Saints 14-7 in the third quarter to open the lead for good. Goulet had six points during the quarter while Mulherin had five, including a 3. Grace Sabine also drilled a 3 as Oak Hill made it 40-24 after three.

“We needed to score as many points as possible,” Goulet said. “We had to pick up our defense. That’s what really wins games. We picked up our defense and our offense and got a little more momentum going.”

The Raiders maintained the lead in the final quarter. Mulherin had another five points, including a 3 while Kayla Veilleux had four.

“What’s good about our team is that everybody can score,” Goulet said. “So there’s not one person that the other team has to focus on.”

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