Whitehall’s girls basketball team held Pocono Mountain East to one point in the first quarter and shut out the Cardinals in the fourth quarter to win their fourth contest of the season, 53-19, on Jan. 4 at Whitehall.

“I wanted to be very intense on defense. I wanted to play hard and pressure up on teams,” said Whitehall coach James Middleton. “Now, they’re talking, now they’re moving, they’re playing faster and playing together. Now, they’re understanding the defenses we’re in, so it’s looking really well. One thing I harp on is play hard on defense and the offense will take care of itself.”

The Zephyrs rattled off 10 straight points before Pocono Mountain East coach Helena Gemmell called a timeout, but the Cardinals’ only point of the quarter came on a free throw.

The Cardinals narrowed the gap by halftime, led by Farrah Shaheen’s six points including a layup off a steal, and McKenna Snyder’s bucket off a pass from Jules Imhof just over the half court line.

“When we went up big, they made their runs,” said Coach Middleton. “We were only up 12 going into halftime, so I think our girls did a good job of maintaining their attitudes, staying poised, and realizing we were still at an advantage even though they made their run.”

The Zephyrs’ big third quarter saw three nice plays when Keona Spooner intercepted a pass and sent it to Nya Brown for a 3-pointer. Brown repeated with a 3 on an assist by Makaela Bordner, who took the ball down court on the Zephyrs’ next possession for two points.

“I definitely think the end of the third quarter was more...We started running more, passing, getting up the court, playing defense, and we kept it going,” Bordner said. “In the first half, they gave us a hard time. When we went to halftime, we had a little talk, and we had to get our minds together, and talk more, and play more defense to make sure they didn’t get more shots.”

MJ Dunbar had two back-to-back buckets to start the fourth quarter, and the Zephyrs silenced the Cardinals for the final eight minutes of play.

“We had to slow down and play our game, don’t let them take control, and run through the plays,” Dunbar said. “I think we were communicating on that more too, which helps a lot. We were setting it up. At first, we were letting them get through the press, but as soon as we started to hustle more, we were getting those stops, and we were being disciplined on defense. Communication again was key there because we were rotating very well.”

This week, the Zephyrs will make the trip to East Stroudsburg North on Friday and will host Nazareth on Jan. 16.