SCARBOROUGH — Scarborough High senior guard Bailey Adams said she didn’t feel her tournament-bound girls’ basketball team “needed” to beat South Portland in its Class A regular-season finale Thursday night.

“We wanted to win this game and we knew we could win this game,” Adams said.

Scarborough (9-9) scored 10 straight points in the final two minutes – in the process taking its first lead of the night – and finished off a game officially scored 46-43, though the scoreboard read 46-42 at the end.

Scarborough Coach Mike Giordano said the win should push his team up one spot in the standings to the seventh seed.

South Portland (13-5) will stay as the fifth seed but will have to address the causes of its 27 turnovers.

“We’ve had a lot of turnovers lately. We certainly have had a lot of what I consider bad passes and bad choices,” Red Riots Coach Lynne Hasson said. “I’m not sure if we’re thinking too much or not thinking enough.”

Trailing 39-35, Scarborough senior Ashley Briggs tied the game at 39-39.

First she squeezed in a layup in traffic. Then she drew the fifth foul on South Portland leading scorer Maddie Hasson and sank both foul shots with 1:34 to play.

“Ashley made a great play going to the basket to get her to pick up that fifth foul,” Giordano said.

“It was just one of those momentum shifts. I thought if we could find a way to get the lead we would win the game.”

Adams gave the Red Storm the lead when she converted a backcourt steal into a layup. Then Adams quickly tied up the South Portland inbounds play and the possession arrow gave the ball back to Scarborough.

Briggs made four straight free throws to push the scoreboard to 45-39 with 11.7 seconds left.

South Portland’s Abby Cavallaro hit a 3-pointer with four seconds left but Adams clinched the win with one free throw.

Adams and Briggs each overcame poor shooting in the first half to score 15 points apiece.

“It’s confidence coming into tournament time,” Adams said. “We started out slow in the season but we’re peaking at the right time.”

Fellow senior Samantha Sparda scored six key points and after the game signed her national letter of intent to play soccer at Division II Southern New Hampshire University.

Briggs repeatedly forced the action, especially once Hasson (15 points) and Cavallaro picked up their fourth fouls on either side of the third-quarter break.

“You have to attack that person,” Briggs said. “You have to try to get those foul shots and possibly get some of their best players out of the game.”

The game was tightly called in terms of fouls and traveling violations, creating a choppy flow.

It also may have been scored incorrectly. Several people, including South Portland’s assistant coaches, thought the Red Riots were not credited for two points.

Assistant Coach Denise Holmes said when she disputed the score, both the home and visiting scorebooks agreed with the scoreboard.

“So there’s nothing you can do then,” Lynne Hasson said.

After the game, South Portland was credited with one additional point, the unaccounted point coming in the fourth quarter.