DIXFIELD — The only problem lately for the Dirigo girls’ basketball team has been putting away games in the second half against good opponents.

What better time to start than Thursday night, against their neighbor and longtime rival?

Up-and-coming Mountain Valley gave Dirigo fits for a half, but the Cougars held the Falcons to 11 points after intermission for a convincing 52-35 MVC win at Defoe Gym.

Dirigo (8-3) didn’t take the lead for good until the final second of a frantic first half, when Jessica Conant’s steal led to a Sabrina Daoud basket at the horn for a 25-24 edge.

The Cougars then started the third quarter with seven unanswered points while forcing the Falcons (4-8) into turnovers on their first four possessions.

“Our defense finally stepped up and we got the turnovers we needed,” Dirigo coach Reggie Weston said. “They gave us all we could handle.”

Conant accumulated 18 points, seven rebounds, seven steals and four assists to lead Dirigo, which entered the game on the heels of back-to-back losses to Carrabec and Madison.

“We had to stop the bleeding after two tough losses in a row to two very good teams,” Weston said. “This helps, because this team here has been giving everybody issues.”

Sophomore point guard Emma Lueders supplied 12 points, six rebounds and five assists for Dirigo, which caused Mountain Valley problems with its full-court pressure throughout the evening.

The Cougars frazzled the Falcons into 15 turnovers in each half. Mountain Valley was only 3-for-18 from the field in the second half.

“I see us getting better at our press breaker,” Mountain Valley coach Ryan Casey said. “Our guard play, there’s not a lot of experience. Each game I see improvement. We have enough solid press break opportunities where we get a few easy baskets and it keeps us in the game.”

Freshman Liza White led Mountain Valley with 12 points and nine rebounds. Sydney Petrie, a sophomore, chipped in eight points and seven boards.

Mountain Valley led by as many as six, 15-9, when Kaitlyn Virgin strung together a layup and two free throws late in the first quarter.

Dirigo answered with seven straight before quarter’s end. Conant hit a pull-up jump shot in the paint. Lueders landed a running one-hander to start a 3-point play, and after a steal, Daoud hit two free throws for the lead.

“We’ve had some tough starts, and we started pretty solid in this game,” Casey said. “I thought we came out and matched their intensity and took away some of their strengths. They made good adjustments, and we shot pretty poorly.”

The Falcons went on a 9-0 frenzy, capped by Karen Flaherty’s 3-pointer, for a 24-21 advantage with a minute left in the half.

Lauren Henderson hit a jumper from the right wing off a feed from Lueders prior to the closing defensive gem.

“What Emma does is she can take it herself or she’ll distrubute it. She’s a true point guard; a very unselfish player,” Weston said. “She could score a lot more points than she does.”