The move was well-timed, and the message got through.

Trailing by two, the Blue Devils struck for three quick goals at the end of the half — including two in the final minute — and added the first seven of the second half to turn a close game into a 15-5 victory over the Vikings.

“We realized we needed to pick it up, a lot faster than we came out,” Lewiston senior Natalie Rousseau said. “We said we weren’t going to take them lightly, but they’ve also improved.”

Lewiston toppled Oxford Hills 19-7 in the teams’ previous meeting, and that score was every bit an indicator of the kind of game the teams played. Tuesday’s win was far from a walk in the park.

“It was one of those, ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’ kind of things, where, they saw it and they decided they had to turn it on and get control of the game,” Dow said. “That’s good. We’re getting into that kind of play, our passing game has picked up.”

Down 4-2 and coming off a timeout, Lewiston got a goal from senior Kelsey Dumond — one of her six — with 4:02 to play in the first half.

Mikaela St. Laurent got credit for the tying goal with 49 seconds to play when her pass to the middle deflected off a gaggle of players in front and into the cage. Shaima Naji gave Lewiston the lead 35 seconds later on a feed from Laurianne Murphy in the slot.

“That timeout, it might have squashed our momentum a little bit,” Oxford Hills coach Jaimee Brett said. “I think the thing we take away from this game, and looking ahead to next year even, is to not let things like a timeout, like a stoppage, the little things, upset you.”

In the second half, Lewiston took over. Dumond scored off the opening draw to extend Lewiston’s lead to two, and Rousseau and Jess Cote added another pair to push the lead to 8-4 before the Vikings called timeout.

“Winning off the draw, keeping possession and really going after the ball on the draw and not just expecting the center to win it,” Rousseau said. “We focused on that a lot in the second half. Today, fast passing and moving to the ball worked well, cutting and cycling to the net.”

The Vikings added one more goal the rest of the way, while Lewiston tacked on seven more. Most of the second-half scores for Lewiston came after extended possession. The Devils controlled the ball, and allowed only four shots to reach keeper Sam Cote in the final 25 minutes.

“Messalonskee, when they beat us, they controlled two-thirds of the game or more,” Dow said. “That’s what we’ve been working on, getting that control back. If you can control a game, chances are, you’re going to win it.”

Lewiston will be the No. 3 seed in the upcoming playoffs, behind unbeaten Messalonskee and Cheverus.