ROCKLAND – A few free throws, a key steal, and good overall defense was all the Rockland girls basketball team needed against Winslow Friday night.

Of course, it wasn’t that simple for the Tigers as they took on the Black Raiders in yet another important Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference game at the high school gym here.

Rockland also needed a lot of poise as it mounted a second-quarter rally, faced a lengthy stall in the fourth, and then had to shoot well from the free-throw line as the game went to overtime.

Five free throws from Caitlin Hynes sealed a 35-29 victory for the Tigers, who avenged a Dec. 30 overtime loss at Winslow.

The Tigers now go to 10-6 while the Raiders fall to 12-4. With just two games left on both teams’ regular-season schedule, every win is important for determining the final Eastern Maine Class B standings.

“This is huge for us for the playoffs,” said Hynes, who led Rockland with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

The Tigers made up for a 6-0 deficit at the end of the first quarter as the teams battled back and forth the rest of the way. Winslow had a 26-24 lead with 5:10 left in the fourth, but Lindsay Barnes (10 points) nailed two free throws 29 seconds later to tie it up for the rest of regulation.

Winslow coach Jim Poulin called a timeout and the Raiders came out in a stall in an attempt to draw the Tigers out of their 2-3 zone. Winslow junior Sarah Roderigue held the ball for the next three minutes and six seconds, until Rockland went to man defense. Neither team scored the rest of the way after a series of timeouts, turnovers and fouls. Rockland had the ball for a final shot, but Hynes’ 3-point attempt missed and the game went to OT.

“At the end of regulation we decided we were not real effective offensively, so we wanted to tell them to come out and play some man,” Winslow coach Jim Poulin said. “And they played very, very good man-to-man defense. We threw the ball around. Both teams made some clutch plays. Sometimes things don’t work out the way you want, but you hope you learn from it.”

Hynes scored first as Rockland took the lead; Winslow’s Amanda LaPointe answered with an offensive-rebound basket. On the next possession Mandy Dunton hit a short jumper that would put the Tigers up for good. Roderigue made a free throw with 2:15 left but that was Winslow’s final score of the game. Hynes made five free throws from there.

“I was so nervous thinking about what I had to do, and it’s harder when you’re thinking about your form,” Hynes said. “I was thinking so hard.”

The Raiders had two turnovers in the final minute, including a Caitlyn Grant steal with 17.2 seconds left that gave Rockland a huge boost. Grant swooped in for the ball and went skidding down a section of floor, but before she could slide out of bounds she astutely signaled for a timeout, which was the Tigers’ last of the overtime.

“All we could think about was we had to get the ball back, no fouls because they were in the bonus, go for the steal and tough defense,” Grant said. “I remembered we had one timeout left, so I snapped that [signal] right on there.”

Both teams played solid defense. The Tigers stuck with their zone to limit Winslow’s touches inside, and they held the 5-foot-9 Roderigue to 10 points and 6-2 Stephanie Bosse to four. The two combined for 15 rebounds.

“We practiced the zone all week for this team,” Hynes said. “We were sagging on one side, keeping feet in the paint, kind of letting the shooters shoot. It seemed to work pretty well.”

Meanwhile, the Black Raiders utilized their pressing, man-to-man defense to force 15 Rockland turnovers in the first half.

Winslow had a 9-0 lead early in the second quarter but Rockland reeled off a 13-0 run to take the lead. Lapointe made a free throw and hit a 3-pointer with six seconds left to tie the game at halftime.

“Coming from behind, we really needed to do that to keep our confidence up,” Grant said.

The Tigers were without one of their regular starters because she had been issued a technical foul in the team’s pervious game. School rules say a player must sit a game in that case.

TIGERS 35, BLACK RAIDERS 29 (OT)

Winslow (12-4) Rockland (10-6)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Byrne 1 10 0 0 2 Grant 2 6 7

Gagne 0 1 0 0 0 Clark 0 1 0

A. Roderigue 0 0 0 0 0 Felt 0 4 2

Peters 0 4 0 0 0 Dunton 2 3 4

LaPointe 3 7 1 3 9 Barnes 4 6 10

Carter 1 5 0 0 2 Hynes 3 10 10 12

Bossie 2 7 0 0 4 Crupi 0 1 0

S. Roderigue 3 12 3 6 10 Todd 0 0 0

Boutin 1 8 0 0 2

Totals 11 54 4 9 29 11 31 13 19 35

Winslow 6 13 19 26 29

Rockland 0 13 20 26 35

3-pt. goals ? Winslow (3-14): LaPointe 2-5, S. Roderigue 1-3, Byrne 0-2, Peters 0-1, Boutin 0-3; Rockland (0-4): Hynes 0-1, Felt 0-3

Attendance: 250 (est.)

JV: Winslow 42-36