After leading for more than 2½ quarters, Widefield’s lead over Rampart began to slip away on Thursday.

Rampart took its first lead with two minutes left in the third quarter and all of the momentum favored the Rams. Thankfully for Widefield, though, Rampart’s mid-game spark proved to be a wake-up call.

The Gladiators scored 10 points in a row in the fourth quarter and pulled away for a 60-54 win.

“Our girls were battling,” Widefield coach Jeff Giovannone said. “It was a weird night.”

For the first 20 minutes of game time, the Gladiators dominated. They went on several scoring runs and led by double digits at one point.

Quick defense forced several Rampart turnovers early on, and that helped them keep their advantage — until they got tired.

Widefield was fresh off a game the day before, as the Gladiators defeated Discovery Canyon on Wednesday. Plus, Giovannone used a six-person rotation on Tuesday, giving those six players very few breaks.

“We had no legs,” Giovannone said. “We left a lot of our legs out there last night, and we were a little bit fried.”

As soon as the Rams took the upper hand, though, Widefield saw its own boost in energy. The Gladiators opened the fourth quarter on an 11-1 run and snatched the momentum away from the Rams.

Bella Monk was the catalyst to Widefield’s recovery. She scored 10 points in the fourth quarter, making three field goals and converting on four free-throw attempts.

A freshman, Monk didn’t look like a first-year high school basketball player in crunch time.

“She took over: It’s impressive to see,” Giovannone said. “It’s going to be fun to coach her for another three seasons.”

While Monk had the hot hand, her teammates did their part in facilitating the offense.

“Girls were getting her the ball in the right spot,” Giovannone said. “It was a total team effort and we made some free throws to seal it.”

Monk led the Gladiators with 17 points, while Abby Vsetecha, Zariah Ortiz and Kasaya Krause each finished in double figures as well. Rampart’s Emily Huxtable led the Rams with 17 points.

The Rams’ loss drops them to 2-4 overall. Their next contest is Friday against Air Academy at home.

As for Widefield, the Gladiators have won three games in a row and are 5-2. Of their five wins, three have come by double digits.

While it wasn’t as easy as some of their earlier victories, Giovannone sees the value of games like Tuesday’s.

“The best teams that I’ve ever coached win ugly,” the coach said. “It’s going to be beneficial. You’re going to have ugly wins and ugly losses, but at the end of the day, they’re just two numbers that don’t stand out too much at the end of the season.”