Keighley Davis broke the Princeton girls school scoring record, but Newman made off with the pivotal Three Rivers East victory Saturday at Prouty Gym in Princeton.

The Comets jumped out to a 13-2 lead to start the game, stretching their lead to 15 points at halftime on the way to a 52-45 league win.

Newman coach Herb Martin, whose team remains unbeaten in the Three Rivers in seven games, improving to 18-5 overall, knew the league championship would go through Princeton.

“Princeton’s a tough team. They have a great program here. They’ve won back-to- back conference championships,” Martin said. “I told my girls if you want to be conference champions you’ve got to beat the champion. I think we’ve finally got that figured out. Beat them twice in less than a week.”

Davis gave the home crowd, which included her parents, grandmother, uncle and three brothers in her cheering section, some highlights by breaking the 27-year Princeton program scoring record held by Tiah Romagnoli.

She sank one 3-pointer in the fourth quarter to draw even with Romagnoli (1,506) and added another to break the record with 1,509 career points.

“It was good to have it at home,” Davis said. “It’s very exciting. It’s a great accomplishment that I’m excited to have and I’ve been working towards it for awhile.”

The Newman boys also came out red hot in the nightcap, taking a 13-2 lead to start the night, cruising to a 74-53 conference victory. The undefeated Comets (23-0) improved to 5-0 in league play, taking a game and half lead over idle Mendota (3-1).

GIRLS

Newman 52, Princeton 45: The Comets beat the Tigresses 56-41 last week and picked up where they left off, going up 13-2 early in the game on a 3-pointer by Elaina Allen. Princeton used a 7-0 run to draw within four, but Lucy Oetting hit a trey from the top to put the Comets ahead 16-9 at quarter’s end.

Davis was held to a single basket in the first quarter and six points in the first half as Newman built a 29-14 halftime lead.

“In the first half, I thought it was a lot more about what we did to ourselves. Wild passes. Just not playing very inspired,” PHS coach Tiffany Gonigam said. “We let them get the first punch and we had to come back after that the whole game. Second half was a different story. Girls battled back. We just ran out of time.”

As Davis came to life in the second half, so did the Tigresses. She converted back-to-back layups off steals in the final minute of the third quarter to help Princeton pull within 40-30 at the end of the third.

Davis hit a 3-pointer for Princeton’s first basket of the fourth quarter to tie the scoring record. Danika Burden hit two free throws, Madie Gibson scored in the post and Burden knocked down a trey.

The record-breaker came for Davis with her second trey of the fourth quarter with 1 1/2 minutes remaining, drawing the Tigresses within 47-43.

Davis joked that she’s been working on those 3s.

Princeton (16-5, 4-3) got no closer as Newman put the game away with 4-4 free throws in the final 30 seconds to clinch the victory.

Davis finished the night with 18 points and Payton Brandt added 13.

Giselle Martin led Newman with 22 points with Martin netting 15.

BOYS

Newman 74, Princeton 53: Evan Bushman and the Comets put up 18 points in the first quarter, but were just warming up.

Bushman scorched the Prouty nets for six of the Comets eight 3-pointers in the second quarter on the way to a 50-19 halftime lead.

“Yeah, we do (like the 3s),” veteran Newman coach Ray Sharp said. “We like to run the floor and get open 3s or layups. I thought we did a really great job of that in the first half and Evan was pretty hot.”

Tiger coach Jason Smith said the Comets can be tough to keep up with when they’re running and gunning.

“We didn’t execute as well as we could have in the first half. They get up and down the floor and we didn’t get back on defense,” he said.

The Comets’ 23-0 start is their best since their Elite Eight team in 2013-14 team went 17-0.

“We’re a good team, but we’ve also been blessed with good health and kind of blessed winning some close games. We’ve had some good luck, too,” he said.

The Tigers’ Smith is a big fan of Sharp, saying, “he’s done more for me than he’ll ever know.”

Tyson Williams led the Comets with 21 points, 14 in the second half, while Bushman finished with 20, all in the first half

Gavin Lanham led the Tigers (3-18, 0-6) with 13 points and freshman Julian Mucha added 12.

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Newman's Lucy Oetting fires away against Princeton Saturday night at Prouty Gym. (Mike Vaughn)