By Matt Singledecker

Springfield Times Intern

MARCOLA – For a majority of the season, the Mohawk girls basketball squad has been a first half team.

Usually the Indians (13-4, 8-2 in Mountain West) like to get a lead and then keep opponents at an arm's length. But that wasn't the case against Lowell (8-12, 2-8 in Mountain East) on Tuesday as they trailed 21-19 at halftime.

The Indians used a 13-0 run in the third quarter to seize control of the game and cruise to a 41-29 victory.

"We were so slow in the first half," said Emily Gonzalez, who had six points. "I'm not sure why but our coach fired us up and we worked as a team in the second half. We have a lot of animosity with Lowell and we wanted to beat them bad."

Mohawk opened the game in a full-court press that caused turnovers and gave the Indians multiple lay-ups. Gonzalez and Clancee Lance hounded the Lowell point guard into two takeaways that turned into points and Chelsea Baszler swished a short jumper to give Mohawk an early 6-0 lead. Lance had eight points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Lowell's Alyssa Larson led the Red Devils back with a couple of free throws and a long three-pointer from the right corner before Gonzalez hit another jumper and Cassie Wilson nailed a short shot at the buzzer to give Mohawk a 14-11 first quarter lead.

Both teams traded baskets before Tiffany Jackson rolled in a lay-in and Larson hit back-to-back uncontested threes that gave Lowell the halftime lead.

"In the first half we did what we had to do," said Lowell head coach Jennifer Campbell. "We found the seams and hit outside shots. Their zone hurt us in the second half. Our girls have to be confident and make shots because we have all the confidence in the world in them."

For more on this story and other news from around the Springfield area, be sure to pick up a copy of the Feb. 5 issue of Springfield Times, available at news racks and stores all around the area. Look under the 'Newspaper Locations' link on this site to find out where. To subscribe to the paper, call 741-7368 or stop by 741 Main St.