Mobridge-Pollock has learned how to guard the paint in recent years and that defense was on display Tuesday night at the Aberdeen Civic Arena.

The Tigers allowed just two-second half points on the way to a 51-12 non-conference girls’ basketball win over Aberdeen Christian.

While the visitors were a bit shorter than the Knights, Mobridge-Pollock coach Stephen Hettick said his squad found out what is needed to defend in the lane.

“We’ve had a lot of practice the past few years. We’ve been undersized in at least 95 percent of our games,” Hettick said. “We’re learning a lot of the different ways that you can use smaller girls to double, dig down on posts, and defend those bigger girls.”

After a 7-7 score late in the opening period, the Tigers turned to their defense to help ignite the offense. The result was a 17-0 surge that gave Mobridge-Pollock a commanding lead.

“We kind of turned up our defense and allowed our defense to build up our confidence,” Hettick said. “We hit a couple of those shots and then it was kind of all over from there. We had a great second quarter. I’m super proud of our effort.”

It was Mariah Goehring who ignited the offense. The senior nailed a three-point field goal to spark that surge and also added another field goal in the pivotal run.

“Hitting one three allows us to build that confidence,” Goehring said.

The Tigers used their speed and athleticism to make life tough for Christian most of the contest.

“We’re not very tall,” Goehring said, “so we have to be quick, and just get up and down as quick as we can.”

Mobridge-Pollock received a major contribution from freshman reserve Blake Thompson who scored five points in the second-quarter flurry.

“That’s what I love about this team is we’re confident anywhere down to 10-11-12 deep. On any given night it can be any girl that can step up and give us that spark,” Hettick said. “That’s absolutely huge for the team. It’s really hard to scout a team where any one of 12 girls can get it going on any given night.”

Charley Henderson led the Tigers with 12 points and Goehring added 10.

Chloe Holt had seven points and eight rebounds to top Christian. Chloe Bosma hauled down a game-high 10 rebounds.

The game continued a trend for the Knights, who have had difficulty scoring in the second half of games so far this season.

“That was a big thing,” said Christian coach Cristian Martinez. “You don’t score, you don’t win.”

While the Knights, who lost by two points on Monday, have played solid in spurts, they have struggled to maintain it for a full game.

“We are not very consistent, yet. We have a young team,” Martinez said. “We play a lot of minutes with eighth-graders.”

The victory was the second in three games for Mobridge-Pollock. Goehring said the Tigers have a goal of making it to the State A tournament this season.

“Our biggest goal is to make it to state, having a winning record and just have good defense the whole time,” Goehring said, “staying consistent throughout the whole game.”

MOBRIDGE-POLLOCK (2-1): Mariah Goehring 4 0-0 10, Reagan Weisbeck 1 0-0 3, Emily Hatzenbuhler 0 3-4 3, Charley Henderson 5 2-5 12, Blake Thompson 2 0-0 5, Katy Kemnitz 1 0-0 3, Faith Heit 1 0-0 2, Tegan Konold 3 0-0 6, Emma Keller 2 1-2 5, Grace Overland 1 0-0 2. Totals 20 6-11 51.

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (0-5): Bailey Englund 2 0-0 4, Chloe Holt 2 2-6 7, Sophia Eichler 0 0-1 0, Chloe Bosma 0 1-3 1. Totals 4 4-10 12.

Mobridge-Pollock 11 33 47 51

Aberdeen Christian 7 10 12 12 3-point field goals – Goehring 2, Weisbeck, Thompson, Kemnitz; Holt. Total fouls – Mobridge-Pollock 11; Aberdeen Christian 11. Rebounds – Mobridge-Pollock 31 (Weisbeck 6); Aberdeen Christian 33 (Bosma 10, Holt 8). Turnovers – Mobridge-Pollock 5; Aberdeen Christian 29.