Correspondent photo / Lowell Spencer Poland’s Leanna Bocccieri drives to the basket between a pair of Flashes defenders during Monday’s game against Champion.

POLAND — Solid defensive play will win you a lot of games. The Poland Bulldogs girls’ basketball team proved that in a come-from-behind 44-29 victory over the Champion Golden Flashes.

The Bulldogs didn’t score until the 3:24 mark of the first quarter and trailed the Flashes 11-2 by the close of the opening frame. But once the Bulldogs ratcheted their defensive pressure in the second quarter, they outscored the Flashes 42-18 for the remainder of the contest.

“It wasn’t a good start, which is a coach’s nightmare,” Bulldogs head coach Nick Blanch said. “But our kids woke up and I have great kids. They have worked tremendously for me and show up every day. And most importantly, they are good to each other.”

With the victory, the Bulldogs evened their early season record at 1-1. Following a season-opening loss, the victory should provide the Bulldogs with confidence and momentum moving forward.

“When you have kids who struggle with confidence in the sport, not winning adds to that,” Blanch said. “I said that tonight was a huge night for us. If you go 0-2 and have Canfield next, that is not the momentum you want going into Canfield. These girls needed a win.”

The loss for the Flashes drops them to 1-2 on the season. However, it also showed that they could compete with a program like Poland and gave them a lot of positives to take into the remainder of their schedule.

“Coming out with a game on the road following the holiday break we started off really well. Our defense was in it. But as the game went on, Poland got comfortable and started speeding our girls up a little bit,” Flashes coach Sean Zekkour said. “This shows us that we are capable of more than what is expected once the season hits its midway stride.”

After the Flashes had built an 11-point, 13-2 lead early in the second quarter, the Bulldogs methodically started to apply pressure on the defensive end of the court to slowly peck away at the deficit. Following baskets by Sophia Generalovich with 15 seconds remaining and Elliana Thompson at the buzzer, the Flashes carried a slim 15-13 advantage into the locker rooms at intermission.

“We have a really good defense, and we pride ourselves over that,” Thompson said. “It helps us to know that what we are doing in practice is paying off.”

But it seemed as if the Flashes had reclaimed the momentum to start the second half when Addie Warzala drained a three to boost the Flashes lead to 20-13 early in the third stanza. That’s when the Bulldogs started to take charge, as they went on a 12-3 run taking their first lead in the contest at the 1:57 mark of the third period. A jumper by Leanna Boccieri to make it 25-23 in favor of the Bulldogs, but Champion’s Kennedy Caldwell answered with a 3-pointer with just over a minute remaining in the third frame to provide the Flashes with a 28-25 advantage to close the period.

The Bulldogs caused the Flashes to turn the ball over eight times in the final quarter as they outscored them 19-1 to pull away with a comfortable win. Thompson would connect on a three at the 6:15 mark to put the Bulldogs ahead 30-28. They would not surrender the lead for the remainder of the contest as they built a 37-28 advantage by the 2:27 mark of the final period on a Generalovich jumper.

“This is our third straight game going into the fourth (quarter) either tied or winning,” Zekkour said. “That speaks volumes in how they are coming in being prepared and maintaining composure throughout the game.”

The Flashes will look to bounce back on Thursday when they return to action in a home contest with the Niles McKinley Red Dragons. Poland will also play again on Thursday when they face rival Canfield in Canfield.