Staff photo / Preston Byers Ursuline’s Maizy Green prepares to attempt a layup while defended by Hubbard’s Aniyah McElroy during the Fighting Irish’s win Monday in Youngstown.

YOUNGSTOWN — It took a quarter, but Ursuline eventually warmed up and continued its hot streak of play Monday in a 52-39 victory over Hubbard, the Irish’s fifth win in their last six games.

“I think the biggest thing is we had a different mentality in the second half. We kind of came out a little slow,” Ursuline head coach LaVell Turnage said. “They’ve been having really good practices; that’s where it starts for them. So I knew if they came out engaged and really focused in the second half… we’d have a chance to win the game.”

During the opening quarter of Monday’s contest, the Irish split three pairs of free throws and watched as the Eagles finished the period on a 9-1 run to take a 15-5 lead into the second quarter.

When asked about the slow start by his team, Turnage pointed to a disruption in the rhythm of gameday caused by Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

“I think the biggest thing today, to be honest with you, was not having school,” Turnage said. “A lot of players and programs don’t realize the function of the brain throughout the day at school and coming to practice or coming into the game. A lot of my players probably sat around until 2:30, 3 o’clock. …. So when the game started at six, I knew it was going to be a while before the blood was flowing.”

Things began to flow Ursuline’s way in the second quarter, which the Irish opened by outscoring Hubbard 15-6 and pulling within one point before Eagles head coach Craig Cicero called a timeout. Hubbard managed to close the period on a relatively strong note, hitting two of its five second-quarter baskets in the final 2:15 of the half to take a 27-24 lead into the break.

The Eagles’ slim advantage quickly disappeared in the second half, as Ursuline scored four points in the opening 36 seconds to take its first lead since it was 2-0. While Hubbard tried to fight for the lead and momentarily took it back a few times, Ursuline’s Sophia Oravec kept her team even by scoring seven of the Irish’s first nine points in the period. Elaina Burnett and Kenyah Gill also made baskets down the stretch in the third to give Ursuline a 38-34 edge going into the final quarter.

The fourth almost completely belonged to the Irish, who, after surrendering the opening 3-pointer by Layla Songer 24 seconds into the period, allowed just two more points from the Eagles for the remainder of the game.

Capitalizing on a number of Hubbard turnovers, Ursuline gradually grew its lead from one point to 13 by the end of the game, which it finished on a 7-0 run and having held the Eagles scoreless over the final 4:40.

“I thought their physicality really wore us down,” Cicero said. “We didn’t do a very good job rebounding, and their aggressiveness and getting to the foul line made us struggle. Their aggressiveness got us in foul trouble… and then they started out in a box-and-one and they kept changing their defenses. That threw us off a little bit. I thought we had a lot of unforced turnovers that allowed them to get out in transition. And the second-chance points really killed us.”

On the night, three Irish players scored in double figures: Gill (12 points), Oravec and Kennedy Carpenter (10 each), while Maizy Green also added nine. Meanwhile, Songer scored a game-high 16 points for the Eagles, whose Chloe Cicero and Claire Murphy contributed nine and six points, respectively.

With the loss, Hubbard (7-8, 1-6 in Northeast 8 Conference) continued its seesaw play as of late; the Eagles have alternated wins and losses over their past five games after winning three straight around the holidays. They are set to visit NE8 foe Poland on Thursday.

Conversely, Ursuline (6-8), which began the season on a six-game losing streak, has now won five of its last six games and six of its last eight. The Irish host Austintown Fitch on Wednesday in a rematch of a Dec. 20 Irish win.