LEWISTON

Sometimes being so close to victory makes it that much tougher when it doesn’t happen.

The Lewiston High School girls basketball team was as close to a win as it has been all season Monday, but watched Brunswick snatch the game away with a buzzer-beater.

The Dragons rallied from a pair of deficits in the final two minutes to edge the Blue Devils, 62-61, in Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference play.

“We could use a ‘W,’ for sure,” Lewiston coach Mike Labonte, whose team beat the Dragons last year in Lewiston in similar fashion, said. “We’ve been battling. At Skowhegan we were down by 10 at halftime and were up by four after three. We keep trying to figure things out, and we’re getting there. We’d like to see a victory along the way to help get it going.”

Guard Gillian Doehring put back a rebound in the final second of regulation to stun the Blue Devils. The Dragons (3-1) had gotten a shot from Lyse Henshaw from the right side, but it missed. The ball bounced out to an open Doehring to the left of the basket for a short jumper.

“I knew I just had to get the rebound and put it up as fast as possible because I knew time was running down,” Doehring said. “I thought it was good because it hit the backboard good but then it was kind of circling out, but then it fell in.”

Lewiston (0-4) was down by as many as 12 in the third but rallied in the fourth and took the lead twice in the final minutes. A 3-pointer by Emily Brochu put Lewiston up 59-56 with 2:01 left. Brunswick got a putback by Julia Champagne moments later, then the Dragons took the lead when Madeline Suhr was left all alone for a layup with 22 seconds left.

Lewiston took a timeout, and Kristina Blais made a strong drive to the hoop and laid it in for the go-ahead basket.

Brunswick pushed the ball up court and set up the shot by Henshaw that missed, but Doehring was there for the long rebound.

Champagne led the Dragons with 26 points. Henshaw finished with 10 while Suhr had nine. Lewiston got 24 points from Blais and 15 from Brie Wilson.

After leading 19-15 after the first quarter, Lewiston had some breakdowns defensively and the Dragons started to hit shots from the outside.

Brunswick had numerous open shooters break open a tie game with an 11-3 run, including eight straight. Champagne and Doehring each had a trey during that stretch.

Brunswick was up by as many as 11 in the second and led at the half, 41-30.

The Dragons built the lead to 48-36 on a Suhr 3-pointer and a basket by Champagne, but Lewiston finished the quarter with a flurry.

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