Hamlin knows its way to Northeast Conference girls’ basketball championships and took a giant step toward another one Tuesday night.

The Chargers dominated the second half on the way to a 57-35 NEC win over Aberdeen Roncalli at Roncalli Gym.

“First of all, hats off to my girls. They worked their butts off tonight,” said Hamlin coach Tim Koisti. “The way that they played together on defense, just helping each other out, and guarding their girl, makes it tough for teams to score. (Roncalli coach Derek Larson) is such a good coach. His kids are always ready to play, so any win we can get up here is huge.”

Hamlin, unbeaten in league play with three games left, won nine straight NEC crowns and has won 10 of the last 11.

“I think we have less than five losses in the Northeast Conference in those years,” Koisti said. “The kids have really played well.”

The Chargers also played well in the second half, pulling away from a 24-21 halftime edge by shutting down the Cavaliers.

“In the last three games we’re minus 54, in the last three halves of basketball that we played. We can’t be successful if that’s what we’re going to do,” Larson said. “We gave up 30 the second half tonight, against a good offensive team. They can shoot the basketball, but we cannot continue to give up dribble drive to the rim. And that’s where it’s got to start. It’s going to start on the defensive end, not giving up scores.”

It was defense that helped Hamlin to pull away after a tight first 16 minutes.

“At halftime we decided we needed to pick it up on the defensive end,” said Hamlin’s Addie Steffensen. “Defense led to offense and we picked it up, and that’s kind of where the gap came from.”

Steffensen played a key role in that Hamlin defensive effort, drawing the assignment of Roncalli leading scorer Ava Hanson, holding her to just six points on the evening.

“I knew she was … going to shoot whenever she had an open shot, so just making sure there was no gap in between me and her,” Steffensen said, “and then relying on my teammates to the help when I did get beat off the dribble or any of that.”

Steffensen’s lock down performance on defense did not impact her offense as she lead the squad with a game-high 18 points.

“One of the nice things is we were just patient with each other,” Koisti said. “It didn’t matter who was shooting or scoring, she scored when she needed to. Addie Neuendorf scored when she needed to. They all hit big shots in big moments.”

Offense was hard to come by for Roncalli on the other end of the floor, especially in the second half as the Chargers pulled away.

“It definitely was a grind,” Larson said. “Didn’t get a lot of open looks, and open looks that we did get, we missed a lot of bunnies the second half.”

A bright spot for the Cavaliers was the play of Gabby Thomas, who came off the bench and finished with 11 points, four rebounds and six steals.

“She’s a great athlete. She had a good basketball game,” Larson said. “To be honest, kept us in the first half.”

Thomas consistently got out in the passing lanes where she deflected passes, a couple of which she converted into transition baskets.

“You just got to read them,” Thomas said of the passes. “You got to be able to read the court.”

The freshman talked about her mindset when she enters a game.

“Sometimes when you’re down you just got to try to switch the momentum,” Thomas said. “When you’re younger you got to give your all on the court.”

Rylee Voeller added 10 points to the Roncalli total.

Neuendorf finished with 14 points, Addie Jensen followed with 12, and Jo Steffensen added 10 for Hamlin, 13-3 on the season.

Roncalli will try to stop a three-game slide when it hosts Dupree on Friday at Roncalli Gym. The Cavaliers 11-5 on the year, are still the top seed in Region 1A.

“We’re trying to hold on to the one seed right now which is still possible,” Larson said, “but again we’ve got to play better than we are right now or else we’re not going to get out of the region.”

HAMLIN (13-3): Addie Steffensen 6 4-4 18, Addie Neuendorf 4 4-4 14, Issie Steffensen 1 0-0 3, Jo Steffensen 4 1-1 10, Addie Jensen 5 2-4 12. Totals 20-43 11-13 57.

ABERDEEN RONCALLI (11-5): McKenna O’Keefe 2 0-0 4, Maddie Huber 0 0-2 0, Claire Crawford 2 0-0 4, Rylee Voeller 3 1-2 10, Avas Hanson 3 0-0 6, Gabby Thomas 5 0-0 11. Totals 15-55 1-4 35.

Hamlin 13 24 45 57

Aberdeen Roncalli 8 21 31 35

3-point field goals – A. Steffensen 2, Neuendorf 2, I. Steffensen , J. Steffensen; Voeller 3, Thomas. Fouled out – Huber. Total fouls – Hamlin 6; Aberdeen Roncalli 12. Rebounds – Hamlin 31 (Neuendorf 10); Aberdeen Roncalli  31 (Hanson 8). Turnovers – Hamlin 11; Aberdeen Roncalli 11.