GARDINER — It takes a near-flawless effort to knock off a team of Messalonskee’s caliber.

Gardiner put together a nice first quarter Thursday night but it wasn’t nearly enough to offset the Eagles’ three-pronged attack of Ally Turner, Sophie Holmes and Gabrielle Wener. Turner scored a game-high 20 points while Holmes and Wener each had 14 to lead Messalonskee to a 64-41 victory.

The Eagles improved to 15-0 in Class A North while Gardiner fell to 10-6.

Gardiner led 11-7 at the end of the first quarter, but the game changed with point guard Lauren Chadwick went to the bench with her third foul 2:18 into the second period. The 5-foot-6 Chadwick drew her third foul trying to block a shot from the 5-11 Turner,

“We know with Ally she’s a game-changer for us,” Messalonskee coach Keith Derosby said. “If we can have a player as dynamic as Lauren have to guard Ally that just gives us an advantage because you’re hoping to get those fouls.”

The Eagles went to work immediately as Holmes converted one of her 14 rebounds into a basket, Turner hit a jumper in the lane and Wener made two free throws to give the Eagles a 13-12 lead they would never surrender.

The Tigers managed just seven points in the quarter as they took good shots but nothing went in. They finished the game shooting 13 of 61 from the floor.

“I’m not upset with the looks we got, they just didn’t fall,” Gardiner coach Mike Gray said.

Wener stole an inbounds pass and banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Eagles a 26-18 led at the half.

“She doesn’t play like a freshman,” Derosby said of the 6-1 Wener. “She plays like an upperclassman. She understands where the ball is, she understands where she’s supposed to be. She knows how to alter shots without putting her body in the way. She can defend the post, she can defend guards, she’s so multi-faceted.”

The Eagles pulled away in the third quarter. Makayla Wilson opened with a 3 from the left side followed by layups from Turner, Holmes and McKenna Brodeur to make it 35-18.

“We’re very versatile,” Turner said. “We can get it into the post or we can get it to our wings and shoot 3s, or we can go to the hoop and make a play. We’ve really worked on fluidity for our offense and it’s really come along way.”

Turner finished with 10 points in the quarter while the Tigers battled foul trouble. Both Mary Toman (nine points, eight rebounds) and sophomore Aimee Adams picked up their fourth fouls in the quarter, further diminishing Gardiner’s ability to compete with the taller Eagles on the backboards.

“You can’t give a team that good that many second chances,” Gray said. “I thought that was the story of the whole game.”

Chadwick finished with a team-high 11 points while Leah Weymouth grabbed 10 rebounds for the Tigers.

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