Medomak Valley’s Rachel Richardson (4) guards Mt. Ararat’s Jenna Jensen. Cooper Sullivan/The Times Record

TOPSHAM — Mt. Ararat girls basketball coach Julie Petrie kept her halftime speech fairly short Monday with her team holding a one-point lead over Medomak Valley.

“I, plain and simple, told them how they come out in the third quarter will determine if they win the game or not,” Petrie said. “I’m pretty upfront with them, and they know that our defensive intensity can help create offense for us when a team is sitting in the zone.”

Although Mt. Ararat’s opening possessions of the second half (turnover, foul, turnover) were not how Petrie wanted things to play out, the next few minutes (six steals leading to a 12-1 run) were. The Eagles maintained their aggressive defense and transition offense on the way to a 51-42 victory.

“You might have to shake a few cobwebs off,” Petrie said. “But, you know, they didn’t forget how to play basketball in 11 days (over the Christmas break).”

Senior guard Cali Pomerleau led Mt. Ararat with 14 points, including four 3-pointers, and added four assists and five steals. Medomak senior guard Kytana Williamson had a game-high 20 points with four assists and four steals.

Both teams played physically from the tip, wrestling for jump balls and muscling through the paint as the Eagles (5-1) jumped to a quick lead before the Panthers (4-2) made it 7-7. While the defenses traded steals, Williamson dropped in multiple mid-range floaters and Pomerleau sank three shots from behind the arc to give Mt. Ararat a 16-13 lead after the first quarter.

As the second began, scoring slowed for Mt. Ararat. Open shots circled the rim, allowing Medomak’s frontcourt to grab rebounds and push the ball up the court. The Panthers ended the half on an 8-3 run with the Eagles missing eight of their last nine shots.

Still, Pomerleau said positive energy from the bench allowed the Eagles to not be discouraged by their shot selection.

“If we know we’re getting good shots, we know they’re going to fall eventually,” Pomerleau said. “Just keeping that mindset, just hyping up our teammates and (saying) ‘It’s OK, you’ll get the next one.'”

The “next one” wasn’t just about made baskets — Julianna Allen scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half, and Jenna Jensen (eight total points) and Avery Beal each sank deep 3-pointers — but also defensive stops.

“We thought our (first-half) defense was lacking a little bit, and, you know, defense turns into offense,” Pomerleau said. “So we definitely keyed in on that, and just making sure we didn’t slow down, came out with the same energy, same intensity, and even brought it up to make sure that third quarter was a big push so we didn’t have to worry much in the fourth.”

Mt. Ararat started face-guarding Williamson, which forced her to act as facilitator and kept her to three second-half points. With strong traps and inbound pressure, the Eagles forced 15 second-half turnovers.

“We knew that it was going to happen at some point,” Medomak coach Lindsay Vinal said. “When (Williamson) doesn’t have the ball, we panic. And when our bigs aren’t in, we don’t have that high-low look, so it just kind of trickle-effects down. But it was a good learning curve for all of them to have to step up and play a bigger role.”

Freshman guard Anna Reed contributed six points, seven rebounds and four steals for the Panthers. Junior center Chloe Fox also scored six points with two blocks and two steals.

“They definitely battled,” Vinal said. “We got down and they kept climbing, which is really nice to see. We’ve been kind of up and down right now, so this I think, even though we lost, it was close. They were competitive. I think we’re on the rise. If we can play that aggressive every game, then we’ll do good things.”