After struggling through the opening half, the Redfield Pheasants received a message at halftime and took it to heart.

The Pheasants allowed just two points in the third quarter on the way to a 41-25 girls’ basketball win over Aberdeen Christian at the Cavalier Classic.

“We challenged them. We weren’t happy with just our effort in the first half, defensively,” said Redfield coach Tommy Gregg. “Offense was a struggle, but defense should always kind of travel.”

That message came through loud and clear as the Pheasants dominated play in a 16-2 third quarter.

When asked what the difference was in the final half, Redfield sophomore Charli Jungwirth responded, “I don’t know. I just think we didn’t really get off the bus, and then got a talk from the coach, and came out and played better.”

Jungwirth played a key role in the second-half surge. She scored the first three points of the third quarter and then assisted on another score to kick start the offense. She also came up with a couple of steals to ignite the defense.

“Charli, just off the ball defensively, she’s just a go-go. She does that all the time,” Gregg said. “This year her role’s gotten bigger and we need that. I think the girls look to her to provide that. I know as a coaching staff, we want her to … get out and deflect some passes and get in transition, and when she does, that gets us going.”

Meanwhile, Christian’s offense dried up in the final 16 minutes as the Knights managed to make just three baskets total in the second half.

“This is a game of momentum. They had the momentum and we couldn’t break their momentum. We couldn’t get a shot to fall. That’s our problem,” said Christian coach Andre Cobbs. “We’ve got to find someone that’s going to put the ball in the basket in that situation. We’ve just got to get a good look and we just got to get someone who’s got the confidence to now go in and put the ball in the basket when we need a basket.”

Turnovers continued to be an issue for the Knights. They not only lead to transition opportunities for the opposition, but also take away scoring chances for them.

“We just got to work on not throwing lofty passes,” Cobbs said. “We talked about putting the ball up and then bouncing the ball down, ball fake, bounce the ball down. It’s just a process where we’re going to have to learn how to handle pressure.”

Not only is the physical part of the game a work in progress for the young Knights, so is developing a culture for a program that has not had a lot of recent success.

“I think a lot of it was just mentality,” said Christian sophomore Erika Moulsoff. “When it’s that close by halftime, I think half of us get in the winning mode and I think a lot of us, just from past games, we just think it’s going to go down from here.”

The Pheasants have also had a rough start to their season and are hoping to build off their first win of the season.

“Our first two games weren’t very good,” Jungwirth said, “but coming out on the second half really built our confidence.”

Jungwirth led a balanced Redfield attack with 11 points. Brynn Giblin followed with 10 and Hayden Gall had nine.

“Right now our defense is our best offense,” Gregg said. “We’re ironing some things out. We’re more of a score by committee-type team, so we do need to share the ball.”

Christian, 0-3 on the season, is off until playing at Sully Buttes on Saturday, Jan. 4.

The Knights will try to benefit from lessons learned in their latest outing.

“I think a lot of it is definitely being more aggressive in the lane,” Moulsoff said, “and really boxing out and rebounding I think did a lot of damage to us this game.”

REDFIELD (1-2): Hayden Gall 4 0-0 9, Brynn Giblin 5 0-0 10, Charli Jungwirth 4 3-7 11, Addisyn Evans 1 0-0 3, Kinley Smith 2 0-0 4, Ella Rude-Peterson 1 1-2 4. Totals 16-53 4-9 41.

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (0-3): Jolie Fogarty 5 0-0 12, Sophia Eichler 3 0-0 6, Shakinah Holsing 1 0-0 2, Erika Moulsoff 1 0-0 2, Arianna Johnson 1 0-0 2, Eri Cobbs 0 1-2 1. Totals 11-33 1-2 25.

Redfield 7 14 30 41

Aberdeen Christian 8 17 19 25

3-point field goals – Gall, Evans, Rude-Peterson; Fogarty 2. Total fouls – Redfield 11; Aberdeen Christian 10. Rebounds – Redfield 27 (Jungwirth 6, Smith 6); Aberdeen Christian 35 (Eichler 9). Turnovers – Redfield 12; Aberdeen Christian 24.