The victory was only the third in 16 division games for the Saints -- and their very first at home -- and it comes on the heels of a string of solid performances that wasn't lost upon head coach Fred Saunders in his post-game thoughts.

"We've been playing better probably the last four or five games, but just not well enough to win some of them," noted Saunders. "But tonight, we played really well and we were able to put it together down the stretch. The maturation of our team was showing tonight and that's a good sign."

The Clippers, who dipped to 5-12, were done in by a pair of cold spells offensively in the second half that led to their demise. Down by a 23-22 score at the break, they rattled off eight quick points in the opening minute of the half, but were unable to produce a field goal for the next 9 1/2 minutes. They soon found their scoring touch, but they went scoreless in the final 3:52 of the game and watched the Saints break a 41-41 tie with the night's final nine points.

"Sometimes that happens, and when it does, you just keep shooting and hope your shots finally fall," said Clippers coach Deb Engels. "We were taking the ball to the basket and doing the things we should be doing, but we missed some bunnies that we usually make and things just didn't go our way."

In the Saints' previous meeting with the Clippers, a 67-62 overtime victory on Feb. 1 at the Clippers' Wellness Center, SRA needed to overcome a superb 33-point performance from senior forward Kaitlin Lambert, Cumberland High's all-time leading scorer.

But in Tuesday night's rematch, the Saints kept close tabs on Lambert and limited her to a team-high 15 points, just six coming in the second half.

"The last time we played them, she did a really good job of passing and then cutting to the rim, and we didn't do a good job of taking away the face-cut," said Saunders. "We worked really hard on that and not allowing her to get the ball back when she got rid of the ball, and once we did that, it helped hamper their team's ability to score."

Lambert produced three of those second-half points before the half even started. Saunders and one of his assistant coaches, Leo Butler, were involved in a heated exchange with both officials near the scorer's table seconds after the opening half ended, and when order was quickly restored, the mild-mannered Butler was ejected from the game and the Clippers were awarded four technical free throws before the start of the second half.

Lambert made good on three of them, and when the half finally got under way, the Clippers took their largest lead of the contest (30-23) a minute into play on a fast-break layup by Molly McLaughlin off a long pass from Lambert and a baseline three-pointer by Jess Contois.

Saunders quickly called a time-out, but it wasn't to go over any plays or strategies.

"The only thing I wanted to do is just get everyone's head cleared after what happened at halftime," he added. "I just wanted them to get settled down and try not to be distracted. I think early on we were, so I called that quick time-out just to more or less calm them down."

After Contois' three-pointer came the Clippers' drought, but the Saints also went scoreless for the next three minutes until Shanika Hodge hit the back end of a pair of free throws.

Hopper soon followed with two free throws of her own and a layup to trim her team's deficit to a basket (30-28), and after the Clippers got back on the board on a free throw by Lambert and two by McLaughlin to extend their lead to five (33-28) with seven minutes to play, the Saints reclaimed their lead by scoring the next eight points, the final five coming on an uncontested three-pointer, followed by a fast-break layup, by Hall.

With 4:26 on the clock, the Clippers knotted the score at 38-38 on a three-pointer by Contois, and with 3:52 to play, they tied it up again at 41-41 on a trey by Jess Cardoso.

Twenty seconds later, Hopper gave the Saints back the lead with a tough layup in traffic, and little did anyone know at the time that those points would be the only ones the Saints needed to pull out the victory.

Hopper, who scored nine of her points in the final 6:36 of the game, had a strong all-around night that also saw her grab a season-high 14 rebounds and contribute five assists, four blocked shots, and three steals. Hall was also good for a double-double with her 10 rebounds, and she also added three thefts.

Contois also netted 11 points for the Clippers, who received high praise from their coach for their excellent defensive effort. Last night's showing marked only the third time this season that Cumberland held an opponent to 50 or fewer points.

"For 32 minutes, I thought we played great defense," offered Engels. "This was probably one of the better games that we've played, and we've been stressing that we have to talk and help each other more."

Both teams conclude their regular seasons tomorrow with their 'Senior Night' festivities. The Saints will host division-leading La Salle Academy and the Clippers will entertain playoff-bound rival Lincoln High.