The Burrillville/Ponaganset Co-op girls’ hockey team outscored Warwick 3-0 in the second period to propel itself to a 5-3 win over the Lady Titans on Friday night at Levy Rink.

Between the first and third periods, Warwick outscored Burrillville 3-2, but the middle period is what cost the Lady Titans.

Inconsistency in the middle of games has become a common theme as of late for Warwick.

“We’ve been struggling a little bit in the second period and it’s something that we’ve identified,” Warwick coach Tom McCormick said. “It’s something that we’re working hard to get better at.”

Warwick put Burrillville on its heels right out of the gates, when Mariana Brawn rolled out of the corner at 5:35 of the first and fired a backhand shot that made its way through the five-hole of Burrillville netminder Abigail Bassett. Natasha Savage assisted on the goal that gave Warwick a 1-0 lead.

Burrillville would respond by logging a slew of attacking zone time. Luckily for Warwick, Mary Greenwell was up to the task in net, turning aside three consecutive shots with five minutes to go in the first period. In all, she would stop 13 shots in the opening period as Warwick held a 1-0 lead at the end of 15 minutes.

However, Burrillville would continue that dominant play into the second period, and this time, its chances resulted in goals.

At 6:18 of the middle frame, Meg Buxton got in behind Warwick’s defense, taking a pass from Caysie Gautreau before going in all alone for a breakaway goal to tie the game at 1.

Just 26 seconds later, Burrillville captured its first lead when Gautreau drove down the left wing and fired a low, short-side shot past Greenwell to make it 2-1.

Another defensive breakdown by Warwick resulted in a third Burrillville goal at 11:20, as Angela Cardone outpaced Warwick’s defense and buried a shot to the blocker side for the Broncos’ second breakaway goal of the period.

After Warwick saw its early lead slip away, Burrillville took a 3-1 lead into the second intermission.

Burrillville’s speed and ability to out-skate Warwick’s defense was a big reason for the swing on the scoreboard.

“We knew they had some really good skaters, especially up front and even a couple in the back,” McCormick said. “We tried to limit their time and space, and I thought we did a pretty good job of that, but a 5-on-3 goal and a couple of breakaways, they’re correctable mistakes. We’re going to identify that this week and work on it.”

Warwick would go back to playing its game in the third period.

Just over a minute into the final period, Savage coasted through the neutral zone and broke down the right wing before beating Bassett with a low shot to cut Warwick’s deficit to 3-2.

At the 5:58 mark, Madison Balutowski knotted the game at 3 when she blocked a shot out at the point before going in all alone for a shorthanded goal.

But on that same power play, Burrillville regained momentum and the lead shortly after.

One minute, 19 seconds later, Gautreau picked up a rebound off the boards, took it around the net and slid the puck into an open net for a wraparound goal to give Burrillville a 4-3 lead.

It would add an insurance tally at 11:30 when Kathleen Takita sent a shot on net right off of a faceoff to the left of Greenwell. The shot bounced off the right pad of Greenwell and straight to the stick of Cardone, who buried her second goal of the game to make it 5-3.

Despite pulling Greenwell and applying pressure late, Warwick couldn’t cut into the two-goal differential.

Warwick’s struggles would continue on Saturday night against Barrington Co-op, as the Eagles edged the Lady Titans, 5-4, marking the fourth straight loss for Warwick.

Moving forward this season, Warwick will look to learn from its shortcomings to make it a stronger team down the road.

“I think we use [this loss] to motivate us,” McCormick said. “I don’t think we forget about it, I think we use it as a teaching tool. We want to improve on the mistakes we made tonight.”