Suffocating defense and a hot start on offense was all Newman needed in its Three Rivers East opener Thursday night against Mendota.

The Comets built a big lead with a strong first quarter, then used another huge surge around halftime to cruise to an 82-14 victory over the visiting Trojans.

Newman (5-2, 1-0 TRAC East) opened the game on a 26-1 run over the first 5:40 and never looked back. The Comets forced nine first-quarter turnovers and shot 11-for-17 to take a 30-5 by the end of the first quarter.

“It was really great to get it started like that, because then everybody can just breathe and loosen up a little bit,” said Anna Propheter, who scored a career-high 22 points on a perfect 8-for-8 shooting night and added four rebounds and three steals.

The Comets finished the game with 22 steals and forced 36 turnovers, limiting Mendota (2-6, 0-2) to 4-for-28 shooting from the field and 0-for-10 from 3-point range. Newman scored 20 points off of turnovers, and also crashed the boards for a 39-21 rebounding edge, including 19 offensive rebounds that the Comets turned into 20 second-chance points.

Newman shared the ball well, assisting on 21 of its 31 baskets. Nine different players scored, eight Comets had assists, eight had steals, and 11 of the 12 players grabbed at least one rebound. Seven players scored at least six points in a balanced effort.

“That’s really good for us. That’s when we’re playing our best, when everybody’s touching the ball, everybody scores, everybody rebounds, everybody passes, everybody steals the ball,” said Lucy Oetting, who stuffed the stat sheet with six points, six rebounds, four assists and a game-high seven steals.

Newman closed the first half and started the second with a 27-0 run over the final 4:20 of the second quarter and opening 3:39 of the third period.

The Trojans never looked comfortable against Newman’s harassing defense. Turnovers and tough missed shots led to long scoring droughts; they didn’t score their first field goal until the 1:35 mark of the first quarter, then went the final 5:07 of the first half and first 9:34 of the second half without a basket.

“We read their offense well and we were able to keep them guessing, get in the passing lanes and keep them from scoring,” Propheter said.

“That’s usually our plan going into the game,” Oetting added. “Stay fast, keep hustling, have our hands and feet moving. That’s really what got us those 22 steals.”

Elaina Allen had 12 points, three assists and two steals, Gisselle Martin added 11 points and seven assists, and Veronica Haley finished with 10 points, four rebounds and two steals for the Comets. Brooklyn Smith added eight points, four rebounds, four steals and two assists, and Paizlee Williams chipped in seven points, three rebounds and two steals. Aubrey Devine had four points, and Grace King finished with two points, three rebounds and two assists.

“It’s really great to get everybody in,” Propheter said. “That just means our starters really did their job to get ahead, and then everybody can participate and show that we all can work as a team, that we’re all putting in the work.”

Kiah Davidson led Mendota with four fourth-quarter points, while Mariyah Elam (4 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks), Karson Doyle (3 rebounds, 2 steals), Emily Sondgeroth (4 rebounds), Eva Beetz (2 rebounds) and Elesea Denk each scored two points.