BELCHERTOWN — Heading into the fourth quarter with a six-point lead against Agawam, the Belchertown girls basketball team had just played its best three quarters of the entire season.

The Orioles were flying around on defense, running the floor well, and dominating the offensive glass. But over the final eight minutes, everything changed.

Agawam held Belchertown to just four points, and forced overtime after a Marlee Montagna free throw tied the game at 42 apiece. The Brownies’ experience took over from there, and they opened the extra session with two quick buckets and never looked back. Belchertown fought until the end but ultimately fell 52-47 to Agawam in the teams’ second meeting this season on Thursday night.

“We had our chances,” Orioles head coach Jason Woodcock said. “We had ourselves a lead. We made a few too many mistakes late in regulation. We certainly had our chances to win. I just want to focus on the positives; we are very, very young out there. And I was missing one of my seniors who gives us good leadership.”

That senior was Laura Cote, who is one of Belchertown’s leading scorers. Without her, junior captain Chloe LaRoche and Morghan Litz had to shoulder the offensive load.

LaRoche netted 16 points, while Litz tallied 13 points to lead the Orioles. Over the span of the fourth quarter and overtime, they were held scoreless as Agawam switched its defense to pressure both into passing rather than shooting, and it worked.

And without Cote out there to be that third option, a bunch of younger players – five freshmen to be exact – had to step up in a high-pressure situation.

“They switched their defense, and it sort of took Chloe out of it a little bit,” Woodcock said. “It put a lot on the rest of us to operate in space, and under the circumstances, a little pressure. We put a lot of freshmen out there, and they did, I thought, an awesome job. We saw some typical rookie moments out there, but that’s expected. I give credit to them for their effort.”

The first time Belchertown and Agawam met was on Dec. 19, a game in which the Brownies dominated all phases and won 62-36. Almost exactly one month later, it’s clear to see the improvements the Orioles have taken as a team.

Coming into Friday’s contest, Belchertown had won three of its last four. And although no coach, Woodcock included, believes in moral victories, he is certainly happy with how the maturation process of his young team is going.

“Tonight, it was only Chloe who had any real varsity experience,” Woodcock said. “Credit to the girls. We are definitely getting better and we can see that. [Agawam] beat us by 26 points a month ago. It would’ve been nice to win the game, but progress is being made.”

Following a high-scoring opening quarter (17-14 Agawam), Belchertown really focused its energy and effort on the defensive end of the floor. The Brownies scored only 10 points in the second, and the Orioles then cut that in half and held them to five points in the third. That – along with a tenacious offensive rebounding onslaught led by Logan Moses – built Belchertown a 38-32 lead after three.

Despite a short stature, Moses led the Orioles in rebounding – and she came up with a key offensive board and put-back layup in overtime to help give Belchertown a chance.

“I tell her all the time that she’s the heart and soul of the team,” Woodcock said of Moses. “She had to have double figure offensive rebounds, I would be willing to bet. To her credit, she’s working a lot on getting those rebounds, getting steals, and then being patient and making good decisions with it. I don’t think she made a bad pass all night long. She kept us in the game, no doubt about that.”

Moses added eight points, Aubrey McCain drilled two 3s to tally six points, and Alexa Karabetsos sank two free throws to round out the Orioles’ scoring on the night.

Belchertown (4-5) has a quick turnaround as it heads to Palmer for a 7 p.m. game with the Panthers on Friday night.