Staff photo / Dan Hiner Lowellville’s Alyssa Kuzan (14) tries to skip a pass while making her way around Newton Falls defender Kennedy Howard during Thursday’s game at Lowellville High School.

LOWELLVILLE – Sometimes shots just don’t fall. And when there’s a lid on the rim for both teams, defense usually is the deciding factor.

That’s what happened Thursday when the Newton Falls girls basketball team traveled to face Lowellville. The Tigers held the Rockets to two points in the first half while on their way to a 36-26 win at Lowellville High School.

“We were a little bit out of sync a little bit offensively. Defensively, I thought we were fantastic,” Newton Falls head coach Mark Baker said.

Neither team could get into a rhythm offensively. But the Tigers (4-6) managed to sink a couple 3-pointers in the first half as they took a 13-2 lead into the break.

The Rockets (4-6) couldn’t get anything going offensively, but midway through the third quarter, they started to capitalize on some opportunities in the low post. However, the Tigers continued to add the occasional basket. So while the Rockets put up 13 points in the third, they still trailed by 12 via a 27-15 deficit heading into the fourth quarter.

Newton Falls continued to match scoring in the fourth, preventing the Rockets from putting a comeback together.

Lilly Sait carried the scoring load for the Tigers offensively. She made five baskets – four twos and a three – while going 4-for-8 from the free-throw line. She finished with a game-high 15 points.

“She was able to get in transition, and a couple times, she was able to rip and get into the rack zone there and get herself to the free-throw line,” Baker said. “She’s a pretty good free-throw shooter when she does that. It’s nice to see her get to the free-throw line. She makes a couple free throws, and next thing you know, she knocks down one from deep or here or there and she has 15 or 18 points.”

Addie Pope scored six points, and Morgan Kendall added five points.

The Rockets were without Gianna Polumbo, who was dealing with an illness. Lowellville head coach Lisa Modelski said the loss of Polumbo left a hole in the team, especially defensively.

“It just sort of changed how we rotate and what we tend to do out there. That I think got in the girls’ heads too, a little more than they would like to think,” Modelski said.

“We just didn’t find the bottom of the net today. I can say in my nine years (as a coach) I’ve never put up two points in a half, ever. I thought the girls came out with better intensity in the second half.”

McKenna Lewis made three of the Rockets’ four 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 10 points. Sydney Procick added seven points.

Coaches consider New Year’s Day to be the unofficial start to the second half of the season, and both coaches wanted to see more from their teams.

For Lowellville, Modelski wants to see the girls develop both individually and as a team.

“It’s the second half of the season,” she said. “We need to find some individual goals, how you want to make the team better, and team goals. Just really self-assessing themselves and the work that they put in outside the gym, or even just the focus. Our focus tonight was just not there.”

As for the Tigers, their coach wants to see more balance from his team.

“Defensively, we’re really solid right now. We’re not as crisp as I’d like us to be on the offensive end of the floor,” Baker said. “That’s probably a part of my coaching, that we spent more time on defense than the offensive end of the court. I pride myself in offense wins games and defense wins championships.

“We spend more time practicing defense and rebounding than anybody else. Now it’s probably time to spend more time shooting and repping some things on the offensive end of the floor.”