DIXFIELD — When Sydney Meader drilled a shot late in the second quarter Saturday night, it not only capped a first-half comeback for the Boothbay girls’ basketball team, but sparked a second half surge.

The Seahawks finished the first half with an 11-3 run and then opened the third quarter with a 14-2 burst that opened the lead for good in a 52-41 win over Dirigo in a Class C South opener.

“It was a really good shot,” said Page Brown, a sophomore classmate of Meader’s. “It was such a big momentum changer for us. We kind of started off slow and had a bunch of turnovers early on. Once we got that 3, we never really looked back.”

Brown finished with a career-high 23 points while freshman Faith Blethen added 13, all but two coming in the second half.

Dirigo got 14 from Emma Lueders and 12 from Sabrina Daoud, but the Cougars struggled offensively in the second half and couldn’t keep pace with Boothbay’s fine execution.

“That group is a hard-working group and they’re very aggressive,” Dirigo coach Karen Magnusson said. “I thought we came out with a great mentality. I thought we had a lot of energy. That’s what I wanted from them. I told them that I was 80 percent happy with how we played. We just needed to finish up with the rebounds and being able to stop some people when we needed to.”

Boothbay was down 19-13 early in the second quarter. Dirigo had done a nice job defensively and forced a number of turnovers while hitting its first five shots of the game. The Seahawks managed to stay close and finished the second quarter with a solid run.

“I was just thinking positively,” Brown said. “We’ve come back from bigger deficits before. I think last year we were down by as many as 12 against them. We’re a good team at coming back because we’re able to keep our momentum up and we have such good team chemistry.”

Brown hit a leaner midway through the second quarter. Then Alexis Welch hit a jumper. Blethen hit a leaner and the game was tied, 20-20. After a Lueders three-point play, Welch scored on a rebound. Then Meader hit her 3 with four seconds left in the half, putting Boothbay up 24-22.

“I was really happy with our bench performance tonight,” said Boothbay coach Tanner Grover. “Page stepped up. Alexis Welch, Angie Perkins and Sydney Meader, I think we proved tonight that we’re a little bit deeper than I thought we were, which is nice.”

Boothbay continued to carry the momentum in the second half while Dirigo struggled to stay within reach. The Seahawks started the third building a 14-point lead with a 14-2 run. With Dirigo graduating the post tandem of Kelsey Hutchins and Jessica Conant, the Cougars are still trying to fill that void. Boothbay was able to take advantage. The Seahawks were able to find players in the paint for baskets while also scoring off rebounds. Dirigo didn’t get as many second-chance tries.

“We made a really concerted effort to get the ball inside” Grover said. “I definitely think that’s where our advantage was. The girls executed.”

Dirigo shot 1-13 to start the second half and finished 3-for-18 in the third quarter and was 5-for-10 in the fourth, after starting 1-for-5.

“We just never got to that point where we could flip that around and get our own run going,” Magnusson said.

The closest Dirigo got the rest of the way was 42-30 after a Lauren Henderson rebound early in the fourth. Boothbay did a nice job making Dirigo work for its offense. The Cougars didn’t have much inside attack and were limited on looks from the outside. When Dirigo did get some shots off, Boothbay often held them to just one try.

“I thought Dirigo started out very hot,” Grover said. “They shot the ball really well. Once we settled in and dug down and really recognized who their shooters were, we were able to contest pretty much everything.”

In addition to Boothbay, one of the preseason favorites in Class C South, Dirigo plays Mountain Valley and Monmouth, two other potential tourney teams, in the first two weeks. That’s a tough way to start for a team looking to reestablish itself after losing in the regional final last year.

“We did a lot of great things,” Magnusson said. “There’s a lot of stuff to take away from this. I loved our energy and loved the way we came together at times. There was just things we have to work on and that will come.”

kmills@sunjournal.com