At times this season, the Cranston East basketball team’s starters have gotten worn down by playing pressure defense. In the final minutes of games, they’re tired.

In Friday’s game against St. Raphael, the ’Bolts seemed to sleep through the opening minutes.

“It kind of looked like we were tired; we weren’t in sync and we weren’t pushing the ball up quickly,” said head coach Lauren McGrail. “We weren’t doing all the good things that we’re capable of.”

In the second half, the ’Bolts might not have been wide awake, but they did enough to grind out a 44-35 victory. The win snapped a four-game league losing streak for the ’Bolts, who improved to 4-4.

Getting there certainly wasn’t easy. The Saints came into the game without a league win, but East couldn’t pull away in the early going. Leah Davis buried a three-pointer and Julia Maguire hit a pair of jumpers to stake East to a 7-2 lead. There was 8:28 on the clock at that point; the ’Bolts didn’t score again for almost six minutes. They made just eight of 39 field goal attempts in the first half. While they had 11 offensive rebounds, the extra chances didn’t help.

“We forced some shots,” McGrail said. “We had to make that extra pass to make sure the shot was a well-taken shot rather than a forced shot. A lot of times, we would just make one pass and the offense died after that.”

East put together a burst just before halftime to gain some distance. Maguire hit a shot with 27 seconds left before a Saints’ miss led to a run-out for Davis, who finished with three seconds left. East took a 15-9 lead into halftime.

While the Saints scored first at the start of the second half, the ’Bolts delivered a steadier performance and gradually built a lead. Three-pointers by Davis and Erinn Reilly, along with two jump shots by Maguire put the ’Bolts up by 12.

“We had to make some adjustments at halftime,” McGrail said. “We were trying to find out which defense would work for us and we were also looking for a lineup that would play best together tonight. With 14 players, you have a little bit of freedom. I think we clicked eventually. We pushed the ball up, which generated a lot more on the offensive end.”

East also forced 12 second-half turnovers, and converted several of them into points.

“Defensively, we picked it up and that got us going,” McGrail said.

The Saints weren’t quite buried. A 6-0 surge midway through the second half made it a four-point game, but the ’Bolts answered with a 9-3 run. A follow by Kelsy Evje and a three-pointer by Maguire were the big blows.

Maguire finished with 25 points, with 15 of them coming after halftime.

“She came up big down the stretch,” McGrail said. “It’s definitely nice to have a go-to player. She’s a ball-handler, she’s a good shooter and she’s going to score every night for us. We depend on that as an offense. Not putting any pressure on her, but that’s the way it is for us.”

Davis scored 10 for East, Reilly had five and Evje tallied four.

While the win wasn’t the best performance of the season, the ’Bolts were happy to take care of business. With seven league games left, the ’Bolts are sitting in the middle of the pack in Division I. They visited Barrington on Wednesday and will travel to Coventry on Friday at 7 p.m.

“We’re feeling pretty good,” McGrail said. “It’s a long season, and the middle of the road is tough. We’re looking to throw some different things in there to keep the kids fresh and well-bonded as a team.”