It had all the earmarks of a traditional Duxbury/Rockland game, as the two teams battled back and forth in the third quarter trying to establish a lead.

However, when push came to shove, a much bigger Duxbury squad unleashed its offensive arsenal in the final eight minutes and cruised to a 67-54 win on Friday night in Duxbury.

It looked like Coach Mark Dunn’s team was intent on blowing out the visitors early, as senior Stacia Boynton was a whirling dervish, flying up and down the court at break-neck speed to score eight of Duxbury’s first 10 points for a 10-2 lead.

A Katie Curley basket upped the score to 12-4, forcing Rockland Coach Mal Lannin-Cotton to call a timeout in hopes of slowing down the Lady Dragons.

When play resumed senior captain Michelle Oloskey gave Duxbury its biggest lead of the night at 14-4 with just over three minutes left in the quarter.

Whether it was cold shooting or complacency in building such a quick lead, the Lady Dragons’ effort was wiped away in about seven minutes, as Rockland’s Rachele Bernache buried a three-pointer for a 19-18 lead with four minutes left in the half.

Duxbury’s Sarah Botieri would can her own three-pointer two minutes later before Rockland’s Kim Mellen scored to make it 23-23 at halftime.

“In the beginning we were pressing and getting steals and it became transition basketball,” said Dunn. “When Rockland got back on defense we have offensive plays, but we just didn’t run them. That certainly helped them get back in the game and they also picked up their intensity defensively.”

Rockland would grab the lead four times to start the third quarter, and then surrendered it when Boynton nailed a three-pointer for a 32-31 Duxbury lead. Bernache countered with one of her own to take back the lead at 34-32, but Botieri was on fire and canned a pair of threes for a 38-34 lead that had Cotton calling for a timeout.

When play resumed the Bulldogs ripped off five straight points to take a one-point lead, but a Devon Tsinzo trey made it 42-42 as the third quarter ended.

Rockland grabbed its last lead at 43-42, and it was all Duxbury after that, as the Lady Dragons went on a 15-2 run over the next four minutes to grab a 57-45 lead with 3:40 left in the game.

Three-pointers by Tsinzo (2) and Botieri fueled the run, prompting Dunn to play it safe in the final minutes by forcing the ball down low to the Curleys (Kelly 6 pts. /Katie 2 pts.) that sewed up the win.

“I told them at halftime that we were a much bigger team and needed to get the Curleys more touches inside,” said Dunn. “The key was we moved the ball well and were able to go inside and outside and then get back into our zone press and make a few steals.”

Duxbury got great distribution in the scoring column, as Botieri led the way with 15 points (4 threes), followed by the Curleys with 14 each, Boynton (11) and Tsinzo (9).

On Sunday afternoon in Quincy, the girls had an easy time with the Presidents, cruising to a 58-24 win with Boynton (15) and Botieri (10) leading the way.

Controlling the boards throughout the game, the Lady Dragons pulled ahead early and never looked back, allowing Dunn to go to his bench regularly.