CENTRAL POINT — Crater found a steady defensive groove from the opening tip and got back on track in Midwestern League girls basketball with a 54-17 triumph over visiting Eagle Point on Tuesday.

The Comets (10-2, 1-1 MWL) forced 20 turnovers with their pressure on defense and executed well on the other end of the court, doling out 14 assists on 19 baskets to earn their first MWL victory.

“A lot of it started with defensive pressure,” said Crater head coach Scott Dippel. “Then we were able to rotate kids in and everybody that came in played at the same speed and that enabled us to keep that defensive pressure up throughout the game.”

Crater’s Maya Van Hook scored 12 points and fellow junior Eliza Idiart added 10 points and three assists. Nehkyah Ellis chipped in nine points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals, and Sydney Gray had five points, seven rebounds, four steals and three assists for the Comets.

Eagle Point (5-7, 0-2) fell behind 14-3 after one quarter and eventually was undone by a 21-point third quarter by the Comets that saw them score almost all of their baskets in the half-court set.

Freshman Kierssa Hogan scored seven points and senior Ashli Meerten added five for the Eagles.

EAGLE POINT (17): Shelton 0, Hogan 7, Monroe 0, Flores 0, Torres 0, Burgess 0, Swanson 0, Rincones 2, Lawler 0, Meerten 5, Hart 3. Totals: 5 5-10 17.

CRATER (54): Westbrock 2, Idiart 10, Van Hook 12, Ryerson 0, Robison 0, Duran 0, Gray 5, Ellis 9, Bowers 0, L. Woodard 6, Young 6, K. Woodard 4. Totals: 19 13-27 54.

Eagle Point;3;6;8;0;—;17

Crater;14;9;21;10;—;54

3-point goals — Eagle Point 2 (Hogan 1, Meerten 1), Crater 3 (Idiart 3).

JV score — Crater 41, Eagle Point 18.

SOUTH MEDFORD 81, WILLAMETTE 36: At Eugene, Ula Chamberlin had 34 points, five rebounds and five steals and South Medford used a press and aggressive man-to-man defense to tally 21 steals at Willamette High.

Kaili Chamberlin added 12 points, nine rebounds and four steals, Toni Coleman and Bella Pedrojetti 13 points apiece and Shakia Perry five rebounds for the Panthers (9-6, 2-0 SWC), who host league favorite Sheldon on Friday.

Willamette (5-8, 0-2), which suffered its fourth straight loss, was led by Makenzie Crawford’s 17 points.

SOUTH MEDFORD (81): K. Chamberlin 12, Coleman 13, U. Chamberlin 34, Schmerbach 0, Pedrojetti 13, Dahlin 4, Perry 3, Laupola 2. Totals: 29 15-20 81.

WILLAMETTE (36): Morris 6, Sendrijas 6, Smith 3, Jackson 4, Young 0, Crawford 17, White 0, Lee 0, Willoughby 0. Totals: 11 9-18 36.

South Medford;28;21;21;11;—;81

Willamette;12;11;5;8;—;36

3-point goals — South Medford 7 (U. Chamberlin 3, Pedrojetti 3, Dahlin 1), Willamette 5 (Morris 1, Sendrijas 1, Smith 1, Crawford 2).

JV result — South Medford won.

GRANTS PASS 46, SOUTH EUGENE 39: At Grants Pass, Grants Pass dominated the second quarter by holding South Eugene to two points in the Southwest Conference victory.

The Cavers (10-4, 2-0 SWC) took a 24-12 halftime lead over the Axeman (6-8, 1-1) and held on.

Alyssa Etheridge led Grants Pass with 15 points, and Ahdra Klinger scored 10.

SOUTH EUGENE (39): Lewis 0, Glenzel 0, Brown 0, H. Stein 2, McGowan 7, Galloway 4, Brandt 0, Jost 17, Schmidt 4, Lee 5, Ellison 0, K. Stein 0. Totals: 15 7-9 39.

GRANTS PASS (46): Etheridge 15, Padgett 0, Gaither 7, Ay. Klinger 7, Williams 0, Ah. Klinger 10, Bruner 7, Noga 0. Totals: 12 20-29 46.

South Eugene;10;2;13;14;—;39

Grants Pass;9;15;9;13;—46

3-point goals — South Eugene 2 (Jost 1, Lee 1), Grants Pass 2 (Etheridge 1, Gaither 1). Fouled out — H. Stein, McGowan.

THURSTON 41, ASHLAND 21: At Ashland, Ashland’s Nina Munson grabbed 12 rebounds but the Grizzlies couldn’t recover from a sluggish first half in the Midwestern League.

Brooklyn Gilbert scored 14 points to lead Thurston (2-9, 1-1 MWL), which outscored Ashland 20-4 in the first half.

Ashland’s Mya Elder-Hammond had four rebounds and three steals while Jayd Sollinger scored five points. Ashland fell to 4-8, 0-2 in the MWL.

THURSTON (41): Bradley 3, Birkby 4, Herrick 0, Miller 6, Gilbert 14, Rice 0, Petersen 4, Williams 0, Hallett 2, Stevens 2, Norman 6. Totals: 15 8-17 41.

ASHLAND (21): Altig 0, Voskes 0, Sollinger 5, Gorringe 0, Moran 2, LaCoste 0, Munson 5, Elder-Hammond 0, Summers 3, Witnauer 0, Rodriguez 4, Abel 2. Totals: 9 3-9 21.

Thurston;9;11;8;13;—;41

Ashland;1;3;8;9;—;21

JV score — Thurston 40, Ashland 25.

HIDDEN VALLEY 78, PHOENIX 22: At Murphy, Phoenix couldn’t generate enough offense to keep up with one of the state’s top Class 4A squads in Hidden Valley, which claimed the Skyline Conference opener.

Isabella Lopez scored eight points and Taylor DeVry went for seven points and three assists for the Pirates (3-11, 0-1 Skyline).

The Mustangs (13-2, 1-0) had five players score in double figures.

PHOENIX (22): Carrillo 5, DeVry 7, Lopez 8, Parent 2, Villasenor 0, Kentner 0, Perez-Hernandez 0, Padillo 0, Christiansen 0, Tellez 0, Bolstad 0. Totals: 8 5-9 22.

HIDDEN VALLEY (78): Jackson 5, Hart 2, Scott 2, Elmore 2, Krusemark 15, Hurley 12, Fisher 15, Hayes 13, Jessee 12, Lyon 0. Totals: 27 19-29 77.

Phoenix;10;7;2;3;—;22

Hidden Valley;18;13;25;22;—;78

3-point goals — Phoenix 1 (DeVry), Hidden Valley 5 (Jackson 1, Krusemark 1, Hurley 1, Jessee 2). Fouled out — Lopez.

JV result — Hidden Valley won.

LAKEVIEW 53, ST. MARY’S 38: At Lakeview, St. Mary’s wasn’t able to recover from a rough second quarter in the Southern Cascade League game.

Emma Bennion dropped in 12 points to lead the Crusaders (3-12, 0-2 SCL), who scored just two points in the second period and committed 28 turnovers.

ST. MARY’S (38): Lippert 7, Alvarez 4, Bennion 12, Alftine 2, Connor 3, Jimenez 2, McGill 2, Ward 6, Christman 0, Dunn 0. Totals: 17 2-3 38.

LAKEVIEW (53): Hargis 8, S. Conley 2, Creager 2, Nicholl 7, McCallister 2, A. Conley 13, Graham 12, Dunn 6. Totals: 24 2-7 52.

St. Mary’s;12;2;10;14;—;38

Lakeview;19;10;16;7;—;52

3-point goals — St. Mary’s 2 (Lippert 1, Connor 1), Lakeview 2 (Hargis 2).

JV result — Lakeview won.

ILLINOIS VALLEY 56, ROGUE RIVER 30: At Rogue River, Aarika Brooks and Bailee Moore combined for 37 points to lead Illinois Valley to the lopsided SCL road victory.

Brooks scored 20 points and Moore 17 for the Cougars (9-5, 1-1), who have won five of their last six.

Rogue River (6-8, 0-1) was led by Jesse Langfield’s 11 points, and Maya McWillie hit a pair of 3-pointers on her way to seven points.

ILLINOIS VALLEY (56): Brooks 20, Moore 17, Miller 8, Navarro 5, Gomez 6, Scott 0, Yoshiwara 0, Hess 0, Mendoza 0. Totals: 24 6-12 56.

ROGUE RIVER (30): Langfield 11, McWillie 7, Worthington 2, McKown 2, Howard 4, Spaeth 2, Clifford 2, Bless 0, Sizemore 0, Rangel 0, Nielsen 0, Burnes 0, Weilbacher 0, Andrews 0, Reeder 0. Totals: 11 6-18 30.

Illinois Valley;15;14;10;17;—;56

Rogue River; 6;10;2;11;—;30

3-point goals — Illinois Valley 2 (Miller 1, Navarro 1), Rogue River 2 (McWillie 2).

ROGUE VALLEY ADVENTIST 42, CHILOQUIN 35: A strong start and big game from Savanah Zamora helped Rogue Valley Adventist earn the wire-to-wire victory at home.

Zamora went for 15 points, six rebounds and four steals as the Red Tail Hawks (12-1, 3-1 MVL) outscored Chiloquin 11-3 in the opening period.

Paris Quave added nine points, five assists and a pair of steals while Zoe Belovitch logged seven points and 10 rebounds for the Red Tail Hawks.