Defense is something Manteno is taking pride in this season, and based on the last six games, it is easy to see why.

The Panthers’ 44-9 home win over Illinois Central Eight Conference opponent Streator on Monday, in which they led 19-0 at the end of the first quarter and 32-3 at halftime, was their sixth win in a row.

In that stretch, Manteno (7-1, 3-0 ICE) has now allowed just 26.5 points per game overall and 21.3 to its ICE opponents.

Kendall Blanchette came off the bench Monday and contributed to a high-energy and disruptive Panther defense, tying starter Alyssa Singleton for the team lead with four of the team’s 15 steals.

She said it’s nice that everyone on the team brings the same level of energy to the floor, no matter what role they’re in.

“Coming off the bench, I just want to make a statement on my team while I’m off the bench to do my best,” she said. “You can tell that everybody is very set on winning and doing the best for everybody. It really helps with the team chemistry that everybody is pushing to have a set goal on winning.”

The large lead allowed to Panthers to find plenty of minutes for their four available bench players, with Hannah Stritar playing 17 minutes, Blanchette and Sophie Peterson each playing 16 minutes and Peyton Boros playing nine.

Head coach Bethany Stritar said it is nice to have a bench unit that is willing and able to compete when called on, and being able to find early-season minutes for them can pay dividends later on.

“Having these games where we can get the bench in a little bit more, and get them to play at the varsity level, is going to be really good for us in the long term to just give us that development,” she said. “They play hard, they’re learning and they’re getting better each time they step on the floor.”

Junior Maddie Gesky posted another double-double for Manteno, her sixth of the season, with 18 points and 14 rebounds, six of which were offensive boards.

Manteno had 17 offensive rebounds Monday to Streator’s three.

“The more boards I get, the more opportunities I get to score, and I like to score,” Gesky said. “And the more boards I can get to help my team, because offense is really big, but defense is probably what wins the games I think, so that’s my mentality going into it.”

Gesky is averaging 14.9 points and 13.4 rebounds per game this season, both of which would be career highs. She averaged 12.5 points and 11.8 rebounds per game as a freshman and 11.7 and 12.2 a season ago.

“Her ability to get off the floor, to be strong in the paint when all those other girls are battling, it just gives her an advantage because of how strong she really is,” Stritar said. “And she’s been really working on her finishing around the hoop as well.”

Emily Horath also had six offensive rebounds, and three defensive ones, while scoring seven points. Lila Prindeville and Blanchette had six points apiece.

Gesky shot 8 of 14 from the floor Monday, but it was a tough shooting night overall for the Panthers.

The rest of the team shot just 11 of 44, and 0 of 12 from 3-point range, but their defense made sure the cold shooting didn’t matter all that much.

For Streator (1-8, 0-3 ICE), senior Ava Gwaltney scored seven points while Isabel Gutierrez had the other two. The Bulldogs shot just 3 of 34 from the floor.

“I just talked to the girls about effort and heart,” head coach Eric Gwaltney said. “Before the game we knew what we were coming against, a great team and a great post player, and we came out and didn’t execute our gameplan whatsoever, especially in the first quarter. I think we got in a hole, got behind, and mentally from there we were out of the game already.

“I know it’s a better team than what they showed tonight.”