STERLING – Even when the Eastland girls basketball team isn’t quite clicking, they’re still tough to deal with.

Newman found that out Saturday afternoon, as the Comets were able to hang around for a while, but once the Cougars hit their stride, it got away from them in a hurry.

Eastland broke open a relatively close game with a third-quarter blitz, and went on to a 62-44 nonconference win at Newman.

The Cougars (18-1) had a few issues early on. Early foul trouble for starters Lydia Coatney and Meredith Janssen messed with the playing rotation, and sharp-shooting senior guard Erin Henze had trouble finding the range, as she missed seven of her first eight shots.

Eastland was coming off some stern tests at the Boylan Christmas Tournament last week, and with a huge NUIC East game looming at Amboy on Tuesday, the game against Newman left them in a tough spot.

“It looked kind of lazy,” Coatney said. “We weren’t getting our rebounds like we usually do. [Head coach Nicole] Brinker was unhappy, and she was trying to instill some fire in us. We were just lacking it tonight.”

Newman (10-7) got within two points (21-19) after a 3-pointer by reserve guard Jordan Morthland with 3:18 left in the second quarter, and was still within three (26-23) after a bucket from Josie Rank with 2:10 to go before halftime.

Eastland, however, responded with a quick 7-0 run, with inside baskets by Karlie Krogman sandwiched around a 3-pointer by Henze to up the lead to 33-23 at halftime.

The Cougars needed exactly 59 seconds in the third quarter to score another seven points, five by Dani Rush and two by Janssen, to go up 40-23. The Comets didn’t get closer than 12 points the rest of the way.

“We just decided to play a little bit better full-court defense,” Brinker said. “We struggled with that a little bit in the first quarter, and actually throughout the entire night.”

Henze led Eastland with 16 points, despite shooting just 6-for-19 from the field. She did dish out a team-high seven assists.

Janssen finished with 11 points and five rebounds, Coatney stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals, and Krogman added a double-double with 10 points and 11 boards.

Newman coach Joe Salvatori noted his team’s main focus on defense was to try to limit Henze as best as possible, and she did struggle shooting despite leading all scorers. It would have taken more than that, however.

“They’ve got some big girls underneath,” Salvatori said. “That Krogman girl is just a handful. She’s tall, she’s strong, and she’s got some great offensive moves. Then as the game progressed, you get Coatney in there, and she’s a great passer and facilitator. They just have great overall balance.”

Rank and Macaire Brown each scored 10 points for Newman, while Skylar Savage chipped in seven. The Comets struggled in a few key categories, namely free-throw shooting (10-for-21), turnovers (19, to Eastland’s 11) and rebounding (26, to the Cougars’ 37) to be able to pull off an upset.

“I’m proud of my girls,” Salvatori said. “We hung in there. There were some times we made our own mistakes, and we have to cut down on that for conference coming up, but we’re going to be all right. Eastland is a good team. That’s why they were second in the state last year, and they’re going to be right up there again this year.”

Girls basketball

Eastland 62, Newman 44

Star of the game: Lydia Coatney, Eastland, 10 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals

Key performers: Erin Henze, Eastland, 16 points, 7 assists; Josie Rank, Newman, 10 points, 7 rebounds

Up next; Eastland at Amboy, 7:30 Tuesday; Newman at Princeton, 7 p.m. Monday