FARMINGTON — Facing a stretch of three critical games in four days, the Mt. Blue girls basketball team engineered a perfect game plan to sweep the series and in the process solidified a playoff spot in the Class A North standings.

Mt. Blue (6-7) escaped with a pair of close road wins before returning home Saturday night to beat Erskine, 40-33, hitting eight straight free throws in the fourth quarter, to wrap up an important stretch of games that included wins over Skowhegan and Cony.

“We fought our way through a difficult stretch,” Mt. Blue coach Gavin Kane said. “We played hard in some close games and put ourselves into a good position in the standings.”

Erskine (4-8) came into the game realizing they needed to shut down the Mt. Blue’s leading scorer Caitlin Kane and point guard Eryn Doiron, if the Eagles were to have a chance of snaring a win on the road.

Kane and Doiron finished with 11 points each in the low scoring affair, leaving Eagles’ coach Mitch Donar excited about his teams effort.

“If you would of told me before the game those two would have 11 points each, I would of figured we won the game,” Donar said. “We did a nice job on them, especially (Michelle) Lemelin who guarded Kane.”

Early on, it appeared the Cougars would run away with the game taking a 16-7 lead when Kane broke free for a three-pointer from the left side at 5:58 of the second quarter.

Erskine battled back hitting six straight free throws while working the ball into the paint where Ally Bonsant and Malorie Weaver went to work, both players finished the game scoring a team-high eight points. A pair of Bonsant free throws knotted the game 20-20 with 1:07 left in the half.

Olivia Ryan quickly returned the advantage to Mt. Blue, powering in an offensive rebound for a 22-20 lead at halftime.

“Along with all the games, we had midterms this week,” coach Kane said. “I think we were a little tired at times but did just enough to keep ahead.”

After a tight third quarter that saw both Kane and Doiron get tagged with their fourth foul, the Cougars opted to hold onto to the ball for long periods in the fourth quarter. It was nearly four minutes before Kane hit one of two free throws for a 32-28 advantage.

“We decided to take a chance and hold onto the ball with Caitlin and Eryn on the bench,” coach Kane said. “Our kids did a nice job protecting the ball and making their free throws when we needed them.”

Weaver hit one of two from the line to narrow the lead to 32-29 with 3:17 remaining, just before the Cougars took control draining eight straight free throws during the final two minutes of the game to secure the win.

Mt. Blue finished the game hitting 18 of 30 from the free throw line, including 9 of 17 in the fourth quarter. Erskine was 14 of 16.