Staff photo / Dan Hiner Chalker’s Tatum Hudak (34) attempts to drive along the baseline while defended by Pymatuning Valley’s McKenna Jordan during the second quarter of Monday’s game in Southington.

SOUTHINGTON — According to both coaches, Monday’s game between the Chalker and Pymatuning Valley girls basketball teams came down to effort. More specifically, it was the energy in the first quarter.

The Wildcats had their ups and downs over the course of the game, but a strong opening quarter helped them finish with a 50-38 win in Southington.

Chalker outscored the Lakers 16-6 thanks to the trio of Tatum Hudak, Abby Grimm and Julia Ross. The three-headed attack accounted for 14 of the team’s first-quarter points.

“For us, it’s important to come out and set the tone and to get our energy level up,” Chalker head coach Rich Hudak said. “That’s why we came out as we did, and we do expend a lot of energy doing that.”

Because of that first-quarter hustle, the Wildcats started to slow down slightly as the game went on.

Pymatuning Valley appeared to get on track in the second. McKenna Jordan and Eralyn Lockwood combined for 10 points as the Lakers (5-6, 3-3 NAC) traded baskets with the Wildcats. However, Chalker took a 30-19 lead into the break.

“They started flat,” Pymatuning Valley head coach Michael Cole said. “A lot of times, that’s on the older girls. We talked about that in (the locker room), about making your adjustments.

“But Chalker’s good, they’re not bad. They’re bigger than us – one of the few teams on our schedule that will be bigger than us – and we talked about that too. Just did a lot of talking, I guess.”

Then the scoring dried up for both teams.

Turnovers and missed shots got the better of both squads in the final 16 minutes of action. First it was PV, who was limited to seven points in the third. Then it was Chalker’s turn, with the Wildcats (5-4, 3-1 NAC) only scoring eight in the fourth.

The Lakers almost clawed their way back into the game in the third, however.

They ended the second quarter with a three from Raylyn Ballentine. She got up a shot just before the buzzer, and while it was off target, the ball caught glass and banked in. That gave the Lakers a little momentum going into the third, as they cut the deficit to single digits. But a 6-0 run by the Wildcats allowed the home team to regain some control.

Pymatuning Valley only made two shots in the fourth, but it went 5-of-9 from the free-throw line to slowly chip away at the Chalker lead. A 3-pointer by Sadie Paul allowed the Lakers to cut the Wildcat advantage to 45-36, but with two minutes to play, there wasn’t enough time to attempt a comeback.

Lockwood and Ballentine each scored 11 points to lead the Lakers, and Jordan finished with eight.

Meanwhile, Tatum Hudak and Grimm were the game’s high scorers. Tatum Hudak finished with a game-high 18 points and Grimm tallied 14.

“I ask a lot of ’em, but they’re very heads-up players. They’re team-first players,” Rich Hudak said of Tatum Hudak and Grimm. “It doesn’t surprise me (to see them) do what they do out there, and they’re great teammates.”

Both teams had decent starts to the year, entering Monday’s post-holiday portion of the schedule with .500 records and three conference wins.

Cole saw his team give good effort during wins in the first half of the season. He wants to see his players be consistent with their effort as the Lakers get ready for the second half of the campaign.

“Effort,” Cole said. “Effort and attitude. That’s it.”

Rich Hudak wants to see his team continue to “get into game shape” and learn to utilize its size advantage. He also wants his girls to continue to develop confidence.

“They just gotta know that they can do it. If they know they can do it, they’re gonna be OK,” Rich Hudak said.