By JON GERAMITA
jgeramita@ncnewsonline.com

From the first day he took over the Neshannock High girls basketball team last year, coach Greg Huston preached defense.

For at least 45 minutes each day in practice, his team works on that side of the ball.

Last night, the Lady Lancers’ hard work paid off.

Neshannock smothered New Brighton every time it touched the ball, paving the way to a 38-20 home victory in WPIAL section 2-AA action.

After scoring the first four points of the game, the Lady Lions missed their next 14 shots, had 11 turnovers and scored just one point the rest of the first half.

“I like to make them work really hard on defense and I like to fix it right on the court,” said Huston, who called a timeout in the first three minutes of the game after New Brighton took the lead. “We corrected it and did a really good job.”

In the last two games, Neshannock has given up just 38 points. Last night was the sixth time this season the Lady Lancers have held an opponent to 30 points or less.

Despite the suffocating defensive effort, Neshannock (7-1 section, 11-5 overall) led only 15-5 at halftime.

In the first half, the Lady Lancers preferred to swing the ball around the perimeter on offense, often not even looking for a shot unless it was wide open. Leading scorer Kylee Patton played the high post and didn’t make a basket in the first 16 minutes — let alone get many touches.

New Brighton made token runs in the third quarter — closing the score to 17-11 on Erika Carter’s jumper — but never put together any type of offensive charge.

Neshannock junior forward Courtney Frengel finally added some offense.

With her team up 19-13, Frengel scored twice inside late in the third quarter to bump the Lady Lancers’ lead to 25-15. Tack on three more baskets inside in the fourth (all on nice interior passes by Caitlyn Bleggi, Patton and Megan Black) and Neshannock led 34-20.

“Courtney has been steady all year for us and she’s done a fantastic job on defense,” Huston said of Frengel, who had a game-high 17 points.

Patton praised Frengel’s work on the wing, especially when she and Bleggi are getting double-teamed.

“She’s doing very well for us and I’m proud of her,” Patton said.

Patton was honored before the game for scoring her 1,000th career point last week against Shenango. The senior currently has 1,033 points.

“They’ll never be another Kylee Patton,” Huston said. “Extremely proud of her as a person. Life will be hard without her next year.”

Chelsea Kauffman had eight points and Bleggi chipped in with seven. Patton had four points and a game-high six rebounds.

The Lady Lancers are tied with Beaver Falls (7-1) for the section lead. The two play each other on Jan. 24 at Beaver Falls.

Huston would like to score more points, but his defensive formula appears to be working.

“I’d rather play a low-scoring game. We know how to win them,” Frengel said.

“Everything we do is a product of hard work,” Huston added. “We’ve been doing this all year and tonight it showed.”