The Dexter and Huron high school girls basketball teams spent the first part of the second half trading blows, with the lead changing hands four times.

When it was over, Huron was the team left standing.

The River Rats went on an 11-3 run late in the third and early in the fourth, turning a one-point lead into an eventual 49-37 home win for he Southeastern Conference Red Division leading River Rats over the SEC White leading Dreadnaughts.

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“There are going to be punches thrown back and forth, and you’ve just got to respond,” Huron coach Steve Vinson said. “You’ve got to take some blows, and Dexter’s a good team, we knew they were going to take make some runs, they were going to make some shots. I think it was critical for us to take some blows and hang in there.”

The win was Huron’s seventh straight, and snapped a seven-game Dexter winning streak.

Micah Robinson led Huron (10-4, 8-1 SEC Red) with 13 points, followed by Alexis Garner and Sara Golidy with 10 apiece.

Makenzie Svirha led Dexter with nine points. Riley McDonald had seven points and eight rebounds.

After McDonald made a 3 halfway through the third, Garner made three straight buckets, and her team never trailed again.

By midway through the fourth, Huron had a double-digit lead. And with Dexter playing a slow-paced, methodical offense, that was all the River Rats would need.

“There was a certain point in the game where you knew,” Dexter coach Mike Bavineau said. “You’re down double-digits and there’s four minutes to go, and you know that they’re going to spread the floor and you don’t have the people to be able to pressure them.”

Huron made its first four shots of the game, and by a minute into the second quarter led 17-8.

But coming out of a timeout, Dexter (14-2, 8-1 SEC White) went on a 15-7 run, behind five points from freshman Taylor Olson, to make it a one-point game at halftime.

The Dreadnaughts took their first lead of the game on their first possession of the second half. But both times Dexter took the lead, Huron took it right back.

“It was really who wanted it more, and we wanted it more,” Huron guard Auzhane King said. “When we went in the locker room and we came out, that’s all we said, because they were as fundamental as we were."

Dexter was held to fewer than 40 points for just the fourth time this year. The River Rats rarely utilized its full-court press, but kept pressure on the ball throughout and made it difficult for Dexter to get the ball into the lane.

“I think (Svirha)’s a great point guard, we try to keep her out of the paint, that’s critical,” Vinson said. “She still got there sometimes. But our guards do a great job, and it’s one after another. We’ve got three or four guards that can put a lot of ball pressure. Our goal is to try to keep her out of the paint.”

Tuesday’s game was the only one on the schedule between Dexter and Huron, but the two teams could face one another both in an SEC crossover game and in a district final.

If that happens, Dexter knows it needs to stay within striking distance.

“We just have to make sure, if we get an opportunity to play them, that we keep the game closer in that stretch of the game,” Bavineau said.

Kyle Austin covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kyleaustin@annarbor.com or 734-623-2535. Follow him on Twitter @KAustin_AA.