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WESTPORT — The Westport High School girls’ basketball team accomplished its main goal when it won its ninth game in its last 10 outings, 40-28 over Diman Regional Vocational Thursday night.

At the same time the visiting Bengals saw their chance at earning a state tournament berth for the first time in seven years melt away as they closed with a 9-11 overall record.

“We weren’t trying to knock them out of the tournament,” Westport coach Glenn Lincoln said. “(Shane Doyle’s) come a long way with them this year. We wanted to get another win. That’s what we talked about. We wanted to get an extra win and get in better position.”

The 14-7 Wildcats have one non-league game remaining at Apponequet Wednesday, Feb. 22, at 6:30 p.m. Westport finished 11-3 and in second place in Mayflower League Large and will learn its tournament seeding and opponent when the MIAA releases its brackets Friday, Feb. 24.

Westport once owned a 5-6 record before embarking on its recent tear. The win over Diman was its fifth straight but the coach thinks the lull in action will prove beneficial for his team.

“We got people back. That’s what’s helped us,” Lincoln said. “Having Brittany (Arruda) back, she’s still sore, has helped. She’ll only have one game from now until the week of the February vacation. Hopefully it will get her a break. We’ve got a couple girls with shin splints too. So they’ll be able to get a break.”

It was Diman who was looking for the break Thursday night. The Bengals played hard till the end but had problems shooting the ball, finishing 11-for-48 (23 percent) from the floor. Sabrina Ponte had 11 of Diman’s 15 first-half points but was held scoreless the rest of the game.

“We clogged the middle up pretty well,” said Lincoln. “We were making them take the outside shots. (Ponte) was on in the first half. She had four baskets, three 3’s and a two. So we tried to take her out of the game a little bit. I think we played pretty good team defense.”

Ponte had a layup and a three in the opening quarter, the only Diman points. In between the baskets the Bengals made eight consecutive turnovers. Diman was 2 of 2 from the floor the first six minutes of the game but had 13 turnovers during that same span. The Bengals finished 2 of 7 in the stanza.

Westport attempted more shots (17) and had four hoops as it took a 9-5 edge into the second quarter. Layla Moran, who finished with a game-high 15 points, started the quarter with a runner in the lane. Then Arruda stole the ball, drove to the hoop, was fouled and made the free throw for a 14-5 lead. A Diman free throw and a left-wing three from Ponte made it 14-9.

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But the ‘Cats struck quickly again. Sam Medeiros scored from in the paint and Kirby stole the ball and fed Moran for another bucket to restore the nine-point lead. Westport didn’t score the final three minutes while Diman’s Bryann Pasternack scored on the end of a break and Ponte swished another three from the left side to make it 18-14 Westport at the break.

After three scoreless minutes to start the third quarter, Moran pilfered the ball and fed Alyssa Kochman for a breakaway hoop. Kochman returned the favor the next Diman possession when she stole the ball and tossed it ahead of the pack. The breakaway shot was missed but Moran put back the rebound. Kayla Kirby then drove to the bucket and scored with 3:14 left to push the lead to 24-14.

A Diman hoop cut the lead to eight but Kirby made a steal and Moran finished the break to again push the advantage to 10.

“We had three or four trips down for fast breaks and I think that opened up the game,” said Lincoln. “After we got those three fast break layups I thought we stayed about the same distance ahead the rest of the game.”

The teams basically exchanged baskets after that 8-2 spurt with the ‘Cats twice going up by 11 points and the Bengals twice cutting the lead to eight points. The final margin was the largest lead of the game for Westport.

It was ‘Senior Night’ at Westport and the team honored Kirby, its lone twelfth-grader in a ceremony prior to the contest. Kirby scored just four points in the game but also had six rebounds, six steals and a blocked shot.

“She always does it other ways. She’s tough. She’s tough down low,” Lincoln said. “She goes to the hoop. She’s our inside presence along with Sam. She’s the heart and soul of our team.”

Sam Medeiros scored eight points and had three steals and 10 rebounds, Arruda finished with seven points and three steals and Moran had eight rebounds. Lexie Botelho had 18 of Diman’s 33 rebounds while Westport grabbed 34 total rebounds.

The Wildcats shot 31 percent (18 of 58) from the floor despite making just one of 14 three-point tries. Diman Voke finished with 32 turnovers compared to 23 for Westport.