LAKEVILLE - LaVille head basketball coach Nicholas Amor has been searching for a spark - a tenacious side on the defensive end of the court. Tuesday night Amor asked his Lancers to go out and play tenacious defense as New Prairie came to town for a non-conference high school girls basketball game. Amor's crew started hitting shots that rimmed out in the first half and dug in deep on defense to come away with a 47-34 victory over the Cougars at Dale E. Cox Gymnasium. "This is a huge win for us," Amor said after watching his club battle back from a nine point second quarter deficit. "We actually saw some tenacious defense tonight ... from ourselves! New Prairie was tenacious. New Prairie gets after it. But we, finally, felt like I had a tenacious team. "That is something we have been focusing on all week. I haven't felt that energy from the defensive team. We see it on the offensive end. We've had good offensive games, but I just asked the ladies to have that tenacity, that energy, that aggression on defense tonight and I thought they did a good job of it." A 10-2 LHS run to start the third quarter put the Lancers in front for the first time - 24-22 with just under 4:30 left in the period. Senior Faith Mejer swished a 3-pointer to close off the short spurt. New Prairie tied the score at 24-24 and 26-all before LaVille closed the third period with a 31-27 lead. "No big halftime speech, no big adjustments other than what the girls did," Amor explained when asked about any words of wisdom in the locker room. "There was just a lid on the basket and you have to continue to shoot with no conscience. You have to take every single shot with the same amount of confidence you did with your first shot. Eventually it will go in. But I did say, if you want to see it go in, you have got to do it by getting to the basket. See that lay up go in, see that the free throw and then the open 15-footer or 3-pointer will fall." Shots started the fall. The defense got tougher and tougher - limiting New Prairie to just five made field goals in the second half, while Amor's club canned 11 field goals, including four 3's in convincing victory. As the Lancer team perked up their ears, dug in on defense and turned out possibly one of their best defensive efforts so far this season, turned in a 16 steal performance and a solid win. According to Amor, it's not him, it's about what the players were seeing. "It's (point guard) Ava finding a way to penetrate and get her teammates open," said the Lancer boss. "When you play a team that pressures you're not going to be able to get passes off screens, you are going to have to penetrate and then kick out for open shots. And then Faith being able to find spots and openings and shooting it with confidence." Amor was proud of the defense and the energy at both ends of the floor in the second half. "I think that their energy impressed me, their focus impressed me," said Amor. "Ava's coming over to me asking for a timeout, saying hey coach I think we need one here. That's leadership. That's above and beyond what coaches would ask for. So that leadership and that energy is coming together and people are saying, ok we got this. Let's get this turned around. That is them figuring it out. It's not me. That's the ladies." Mejer finished with a game-high 23 points, including 16 in the second half. Weil had eight points, Singleton and Markin six, and Cloie Davis chipped in with four. Markin hit the glass for a career-high 15 rebounds to lead a 40-38 LaVille advantage on the boards. Weil was the top sniper with seven steals and the LHS defense finished with 16 steals. LaVille improved to 6-10 overall and will return to action January 17 at home against 1A #4 Elkhart Christian Academy. It will be a girl-boy doubleheader, starting with the gals at 6pm, followed by the guys, as LaVille celebrates Homecoming. LaVille 47 New Prairie 34 At Lakeville Score By Quarters New Prairie 10 9 8 7 - 34 LaVille 6 8 17 16 - 47 New Prairie - Hannah Hawkins-Wiesner 5, Brooklynne Shepherd 8, Addi Luther 2, Alex Ellett 2, Bailey Futa 6, Emma Deutscher 1, Chloe Deutscher 10. Totals: 11 8-25 34 LaVille - Syd Williams 0, Faith Mejer 23, Lexi McQueen 0, Madi Singleton 6, Cloie Davis 4 ,Ava Weil 8, Morgan Schmidt 0, Denni Markin 6. Totals: 14 15-21 47 3-point field goals: New Prairie 3 (Hawkins-Weisner, Shepherd, Futa), LaVille 4 (Mejer 4) Total fouls (fouled out): New Prairie 22 (E. Deutscher), LaVille 22 (Schmidt) Team records: New Prairie 3-15, LaVille 6-10 Next game: Elkhart Christian Academy at LaVille Jan 17, 6pm (girl-boy doubleheader) JV score: LaVille 35 (Lily Menefee 11, Lexi McQueen 6, Violet Wheeler 6), New Prairie 32 (Sami Pease 9)