BELFAST – A strong defensive effort in the second quarter and a fine offensive performance in the third quarter led to a pointworthy victory for the Belfast girls basketball team Thursday evening.

The Lions forced Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference rival Rockland into eight second-period turnovers to grab the lead, then put in perimeter shots in the second half in a 48-33 win at the high school gym.

Ashley Bryant scored a game-high 17 points to help Belfast go to 8-6 as the Lions try to keep pace with Maranacook of Readfield and hold off Mount View of Thorndike in the Class B Southeastern standings.

Belfast will face Maranacook Saturday in a rematch of a one-point loss earlier this season.

“We’re hoping to be in the top three and by winning tonight that secured our fourth spot, and hopefully if we win Saturday we’ll move up to three,” Bryant said. “[Marancook works] hard, but we just have to match it.”

Belfast coach Ted Rioux was pleased with his team’s pressure and man defenses, especially because the Lions were able to convert the opposition’s turnovers.

“We try to keep them under 45 points, every team we play,” he said. “We use the pressure to try to get teams to turn over the ball and also make teams take quick shots. We play good offense when we play good defense.”

Rockland (6-8) kept pace with Belfast in the first quarter and took an 8-7 lead early in the second quarter on a driving basket by Lindsey Grant. But Belfast’s Lyndsey Bryant answered with a driving hoop of her own as the Lions regained the lead for good.

Stacey Marcotte of Rockland hit a 15-footer to make it 11-10, but Belfast got baskets from Kate Bailey and Ashley Bryant. Twenty-five seconds after scoring her basket, Ashley Bryant put in two free throws that gave Belfast a 17-10 lead.

Rockland committed six turnovers before Belfast tallied the first of its three in the quarter.

“We were playing tremendous defense in that quarter,” Ashley Bryant said. “We knew we needed to pick it up and try harder, and we did.”

The Tigers cut the lead to four when Caitlyn Grant knocked down a 3-pointer 1:52 into the third quarter, but Ashley Bryant made a 3-pointer on the other end and hit another two possessions later, giving the Lions a 29-19 lead. Belfast made five of its seven 3-point attempts in the second half (including a third long-range basket from Bryant).

Rockland played a 3-2 zone to limit Belfast’s jump shots, but the Lions were able to work around that.

“They really shot well in that third quarter and that made a difference,” Rockland coach Karen Bickmore said. “We did not get any offensive rebounds to speak of, and that hurt us.”

Caitlyn Grant led the Tigers with 13 points. Marcotte pulled down eight rebounds.

A key defensive matchup for the Lions was 5-foot-10 Belfast sophomore forward Kaitlin Murphy on Rockland forward Annie Pennell. The 5-9 sophomore finished with four points and nine rebounds.

“Annie’s been big this season,” said Murphy, who had eight rebounds. “I’ve been watching their box scores. But we’ve played together in AAU so we know each other’s games. She gets good rebounds and takes good shots, so it was important [to defend Pennell] because she can easily put in points if we didn’t have a body on her all the time, boxing out.”

LIONS 48, TIGERS 33

Rockland (6-8) Belfast (8-6)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

L. Grant 1 4 2 3 4 Crandall 0 0

C. Grant 5 18 2 2 13 Evans 0 0 0

Marcotte 2 6 3 5 7 A. Bryant 6 18 2 3 17

Gushee 0 4 2 2 2 L. Bryant 1 2

Clark 0 0 0 0 0 Groening 2 4

Hurley 0 2 0 1 0 Brown 0 2 0

Felt 1 6 0 4 3 Murphy 3 5 0 6

Pennell 2 4 0 0 4 Ellis 3 5 7

Bailey 2 4 1 5

Duval 0 0 0 0

Ross 3 14 0 7

Totals 11 44 9 17 33 20 57 48

Rockland 6 14 25 33

Belfast 7 21 35 48

3-pt. goals: Rockland (2-9): Felt 1-2, C. Grant 1-5, Gushee 0-2; Belfast (5-9): A. Bryant 3-5, Ellis 1-1, Ross 1-2, Crandall 0-1

Attendance: 150 (est.)

Preliminary: Belfast JV 46-22