GARDINER — Mt. Blue weathered a 22-point first quarter by Gardiner and then finished with a strong fourth quarter to notch a 56-48 Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference boys basketball victory in a back-and-forth skirmish in Gardiner.

The Cougars (5-5) fell behind 22-14 after one quarter then bounced back and took a 32-20 lead into halftime. Gardiner responded in the third and led by one point heading in the fourth. The Cougars closed out the game by outscoring the Tigers 17-8 in the final eight minutes.

Mt. Blue shot 19 of 26 at the free-throw line. Zach Poisson (game-high 17 points) went 5 for 6 at the charity stripe, Chandler Briggs (14 points) was 5 for 7 and Jayden Meader (nine points) was 4 for 4.

Kalvin Catchings and Ryan Moore each scored 16 points for Gardiner (4-6).

NYA 79, RANGELEY 20: Elliott Oney scored 15 of his 19 points in the first half as the Panthers rolled to a win in Rangeley.

Logan Welch added 14 points, Moses Semuhoza scored 11, Cal Nice had 10 and Bryce Poulin nine for NYA (5-5).

Chase Carmichael hit two 3-pointers and led Rangeley (1-5) with 16 points.

VALLEY 93, NORTH HAVEN 11: Harry Louis led all scorers with 23 points to lead the Cavaliers to the East/West Conference win on North Haven.

Caleb Judd added 14 points for Valley (7-3) while Kamdyn Conrad finished with 13.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

GARDINER 61, MT. BLUE 36: Lizzy Gruber scored a game-high 31 points and pulled down 15 rebounds to lead the Tigers  in Farmington.

McKenna Johnson added nine points for Gardiner (9-1).

Eva Stevens paced Mt. Blue (3-7) with 17 points and collected five rebounds and Kara Daggett recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

CARRABEC 45, KENTS HILL 26: Cheyenne Cahill poured in 21 points to guide the Cobras to a road victory in Mountain Valley Conference action.

Molly Hay added seven points for the Cobras, who improved to 8-1.

Regina Sabirova led the Huskies (4-2) with 14 points.

BREWER 42, MESSALONSKEE 38: Jordan Doak scored 11 points and Makayla Dore added 10 to lead the Witches to the KVAC victory in Oakland.

Jenna McQuarrie chipped in with eight points for Brewer (4-7), and Allie Flagg scored six.

Ashley Mullen had 12 points for the Eagles (3-8), while Brennan Doran and Candace Pelotte added 10 apiece.

OAK HILL 42, DIRIGO 40: The Raiders finished strong to earn a MVC win in Wales.

Oak Hill (3-5) outscored Dirigo 9-5 in the fourth quarter. Paige Gonya scored a team-high 13 points for the Raiders, while Emily Dillman chipped in 12.

Dirge’s (5-4) Grace Robbins led all scorers with 16 points.

MT. DESERT ISLAND 55, WINSLOW 31: Elizabeth Jones and Mollie Gray both had 13 points, and the Trojans rolled to victory over the Black Raiders in Bar Harbor.

MDI (8-3) was up 24-2 after the first quarter and 39-9 at halftime.

Mikayla Rioux had 11 points to lead Winslow (3-8), while Sage Clukey, Maddison Lower and Harly Pomerleau had five apiece.

HALL-DALE 90, BOOTHBAY 25: KK Wills scored 18 points, and the undefeated Bulldogs kept rolling in MVC play in Boothbay.

Iris Ireland and Lily Platt had 10 points for Hall-Dale (11-0), while KJ Greenhalgh and Jade Graham added 10 apiece. The Bulldogs led 49-12 at halftime.

Jaelyn Crocker led the Seahawks (0-6) with 11 points.

VALLEY 91, NORTH HAVEN 26: Brielle Hill scored 28 points to lead the Cavaliers to the East/West Conference win.

Madeline Hill added 25 points for Valley (10-0) while Kamryn Cool chipped in 11.