Defense, defense, defense. That was all North Hunterdon Lions needed to pull out a 49-22 win over the West Morris Highlanders, handing them their first loss of the season. The Lions move ahead to 2-0, while the Highlanders fall to 2-1.

Steals, blocked passes and deflected shots started in the first quarter, setting the stage for almost the entire game. North Hunterdon won the tip off and drove to the basket, but missed the shot.

Kelly Loughney fouled West Morris’ Julia Scanlon, giving her two foul shots, in the early seconds of the first quarter. Making one of the two, this was West Morris’ only point for the quarter, allowing the Lions to pull ahead early.

Numerous steals by Jess Pellechio, missed shots by the Highlanders, and layups by Loughney summed up the quarter which ended as 13 to 1 in favor of the Lions.

The momentum continued to swing towards North Hunterdon in the second quarter as well as missed shots became a big hindrance for the Highlanders. The Lions capitalized on West Morris’ mistakes as three pointers by Mary Vanoerveen and Alyssa Fania extended the lead even further.

A foul shot from Ally Tank and a layup by Shayna Ericksen were the Highlanders points for the quarter. North Hunterdon controlled the defensive game, once again, with steals from Vanoerveen closing out the first half at 25 to 4.

The third quarter was mainly dominated by West Morris as the girls pulled out twelve points, shortening the lead to fifteen at one point. Strong drives to the basket from Alisa Greco and Tank allowed West Morris to draws fouls from the Lions.

Unfortunately, the third quarter surge didn’t last for the Highlanders as Loughney disrupted the 6-0 run with a layup. Fouls played a large part in this quarter with almost every possession; many times drives to the basket ended with fouls under the hoop.

A couple steals by Jess Poole and Greco fueled the Highlanders for another short run on the scoreboard, but the Lions just proved to be too much. The third quarter ended with North Hunterdon being ahead 36 to 16.

The fourth quarter started with a Greco steal and an Ericksen layup, but was quickly ended by the Lions when Alissa Tarsi sunk a shot from beyond the foul line. It was North Hunterdon from then on as Blair Curzi and Imani Martinez were able to add some more points to the board for the Lions.