Warren’s Mackenzie James-McGuire, right, goes up for the shot while being defended by Parkersburg South’s Lucie Cline during Thursday’s girls basketball game in Vincent. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

VINCENT — When shots weren’t falling, Warren turned to old reliable. Defense.

Trailing by 10 points at halftime, the Warriors flustered Parkersburg South’s offensive approach and allowed just 11 second-half points while pulling off a 41-32 win over the Patriots, Thursday night at Warrior Coliseum.

During an 11-minute span in the second half, Warren held the Patriots without a field goal.

“We’ve had our challenges scoring this year, so we’ve said our defense has to kind of start our offense,” Warren coach Brad Venham said. “In the second half, we picked it up full-court and the girls did a phenomenal job believing in themselves.

“I’m so proud of their effort. They is a different feel for this team, and they’ve really bought into believing into each other.”

Parkersburg South’s Taelyn Richards, left, knocks the ball out of the hands of Warren’s Abby Wells (1) during Thursday’s game in Vincent. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

Warren improved to 4-2, while South dropped to 0-3 and letting another possible win get away. The Patriots are making the most out of what’s available. Against the Warriors, the Patriots dressed eight girls, including Lucie Cline who is recovering from an illness but still managed to score a game-high 16 points to go with six rebounds.

“In all fairness, we didn’t handle the pressure well,” South coach Ed Davis said. “But we have four people out there who in their defense have not been in that situation much in their career.”

The Warriors managed only 11 points themselves for the entire first half.

Trailing 4-2, South shifted the momentum in a major way for the final six minutes of the first quarter. Beginning with a bucket from Cline, teammate Farrah Yost rebounded an offensive miss and stuck a 3-pointer. Patriot junior Macy Singer converted a baseline drive and moments later James-McGuire picked up her second personal foul and took a seat on the bench.

Cline knocked down both ends of a two-shot foul then capped the first-quarter scoring with a 3-pointer to boost the lead to 14-4.

In the second quarter, Cline made her presence felt once again with her turnaround jumper to cap a 14-0 run and extend the gap to 16-4

Warren played the final five minutes with its starting lineup intact and for the most part played South on even terms while going into halftime trailing 21-11.

“We came into halftime, and we said something is not going right – we need to switch up a little bit,” James-McGuire said. “In the second half, we were working the middle, getting open looks and being patient.

“In the first quarter, we always seem to go so fast. Eventually we slow down, so the second half was definitely better. When I returned to the floor after picking up the two fouls, I just had to tell myself don’t force it if it’s not there.”

South kept Warren at a distance for the first four-plus minutes of the second half. Then it all went haywire for the Patriots as the Warriors stepped up the full-court pressure and converted buckets in transition.

James-McGuire led the scoring parade with 12 points during a 22-2 run which put the Warriors in front 38-27 at the three-minute mark of the fourth quarter. All five Warren starters contributed at least one bucket to the cause.

“”(Mackenzie) can kind of do it all,” Venham said. “The big thing for me is to make sure she doesn’t feel the pressure like she has to do it all. Helps when teammates start knocking down buckets.”

James-McGuire finished with a team-high 14 points. She enjoyed matching up with her mirror image in the form of Cline.

“(Cline) is super aggressive – she is fun to play against because she is the same size as me,” James-McGuire said. “She did a great job tonight.”

Warren also received nine points from DeLaney Gates and another eight from Sarah Pettey. Rylee Arnold, who scored 18 points in a game last Saturday, couldn’t find her range from the outside, but made multiple crucial buckets as part of her five points.

“You look at Rylee and she is a shooter – she asked what was wrong,” Venham said. “I told her shooters are going to shoot. They need to have a very short memory. She just needed to continue to shoot, and she did. She made a couple of big buckets.”

Singer gave a solid all-around floor game for South after finishing with nine points, two assists and a team-high seven rebounds.

“Macy is a kid who last year wasn’t healthy,” Davis said. “People don’t know, but she is playing through a lot of stuff.”

Despite falling to 0-3, coach Davis tells his girls the games that really matter don’t occur until February, so keep plugging away.

Members of the South coaching staff participated in a scrimmage earlier this week to give the girls a feel for the transition game. Let’s just say the adults were feeling it the next day.

“The thing I am proud of, the kids we have out there playing are competing – they are playing hard,” Davis said. “And they are devastated right now. They are hurting right now, and I hope they cut themselves a break.

“The first regional game is February 28. That’s a lifetime from now, and we have to keep that in perspective.”

Contact Kerry Patrick at kptarick@newsandsentinel.com