HAMPTON — It took a while, but the Griffin High Lady Bears soccer team finally won a match.

Lady Bears freshman Madison Weems hit a shot that went through the hands of Dutchtown High keeper Deborah Pinkney into the net in the second overtime period to give Griffin the 3-2 win over the Lady Bulldogs Tuesday evening in Region 4-AAAA action on the road.

Griffin ends its 17-match losing streak dating back to last season and improves to 1-4 overall and 1-1 in region play, getting the first win of the Bill Stikes era. Dutchtown played its home and season opener Tuesday, falling to 0-1, 0-1.

“You don’t understand how happy we are. I’m proud of Rayne [Pilgrim] for her saves, Christina [Odom] did well and I’m really happy for Madison to get her first varsity goal,” said Griffin senior Michelina Walcott, who hurt her thigh muscle in the match. “We broke down in the second half, but we battled back and won. This won’t be our last win, that’s for sure.”

Griffin began the match on fire. Senior Christina Odom scored Griffin’s first two goals of the season in the first half. The first one came on a breakaway at the 34:09 mark and Faith Lozano assisted Odom on her second goal at the 21:32 mark and the Lady Bears quickly held a 2-0 lead.

The Lady Bears led throughout the majority of the first half, but Dutchtown sophomore Kalen Roberts made a nice move past Walcott and scored at the 11:32 mark to cut Griffin’s lead to 2-1. The score stayed that way at the half.

Dutchtown put pressure on Griffin in the second half and that led to Roberts’ second goal of the match, a line-drive shot past Pilgrim to tie the match at 2-2 with 20:03 remaining in regulation. Both teams battled for the rest of the second half, with Pilgrim making some nice saves on Dutchtown shots. Griffin couldn’t penetrate Dutchtown’s defense, but managed to get to the first overtime period.

Neither team scored in the first 5:00 overtime period. In the second 5:00 OT, Dutchtown started well but Griffin finally got a breakaway. The ball bounced to Weems, who dribbled the ball and then sent a screaming shot high in the air. Dutchtown keeper Pinkney jumped to catch it, but the ball went through her hands and in the back of the net for the goal and the 3-2 Griffin lead at the 3:37 mark of the 2nd OT.

Dutchtown’s Roberts had a wide-open shot with 19 seconds remaining, but Pilgrim made a great save to preserve the win.

“That’s Griffin High soccer for you. We battled and fought and had some players hurt, but the girls wanted to win,” said Stikes. “They played with heart and got a big win.”

Griffin’s next match is Friday at region foe Riverdale at 5 p.m.