DIXON – After sitting on the bench for much of the second quarter with two fouls, Dixon senior Harvest Day was waiting to put her stamp on Monday night’s Big Northern Conference game against Winnebago.

So when the Indians got within one point early in the third quarter, Day took over on a personal 7-0 run to put the Duchesses back in control.

Day and Ella Govig combined on a 20-3 run in the second half to lead Dixon to a 45-33 victory at Lancaster Gym.

[ Photos from Dixon vs. Winnebago girls basketball ]

“For her to keep her composure was awesome. She had fouls in the first half and didn’t play as much as she normally does, but she came out in the second half and forgot about that happening and just played her game when she got on the court, and worked so well with all of us,” Govig said. “Once we had her, we were able to get our momentum going and stretch the lead and carry it on for the rest of the game.”

Dixon (17-1, 3-0 BNC) jumped out to a 10-1 lead on a Govig spin move in the lane, then pushed it to 17-6 on a Kait Knipple 3-pointer with 5:05 left in the second quarter.

But Winnebago (12-8, 0-2) fought back, using some pressure defense to speed up the Duchesses, and capitalizing on the other end. Jocelyn Harms and Madylin DiPiazza scored baskets in a 7-0 run to close the first half, and Campbell Schrank converted a three-point play a minute into the third period to get the Indians within 17-16.

That’s when Dixon co-captain Day stepped up and made her mark.

“Rav [coach Luke Ravlin] always says they they’re going to have their run and we’re going to have our run, and it’s just how we handle their run,” Day said. “I think we handled it amazing, and every time they start getting points, we know that we’ve got to step up and do something different, play differently, and I think we did that tonight.”

Day brought the ball up the court and stepped into a 3 when Winnebago’s defense didn’t pick her up, then she drove the baseline for a layup before knocking down a pull-up jumper for seven points on three consecutive possessions.

Then Govig was left open for a 3, and she followed that with a basket inside before Day closed the third with a layup after recovering a loose ball on an in-bounds play under the basket.

“Whenever I get some fouls in the first quarter and know that I’m going to be sitting on the bench for the first half – it happens a lot, you know? – I come out in the third quarter and I just tell myself that my team needs me and I’ve got to show up,” Day said. “I kept my energy up on the bench in the first half, and I just came out with that same energy in the second half. I’m playing not for myself but for my team, so I just wanted to show them that I’m there for them.”

Grace Erb opened the fourth quarter with a basket for Winnebago, but Day took a rebound and went coast-to-coast a little more than a minute later, then fed Govig inside for a layup off a spin move before Day again took the ball all the way up the court and to the basket for a 37-19 lead with 5:13 remaining.

‘Bago never got closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

“Their press is meant to speed us up, and we knew that. So when they try and make us go fast in the back court, they want us to go fast when we’re on our side trying to score,” Govig said. “So we know that we need to slow down and bring it back and just calm down. We know that we can’t rush, because we’re giving in to what they want, and we need to play our game, how we work.”

Both teams got going a little faster than they wanted at times, and both coaches credited the opposing defense for that. Dixon forced seven first-quarter turnovers by Winnebago, but the Indians forced 12 second-half turnovers from the Duchesses.

“I thought initially we were shell-shocked, and it takes a lot of energy to get back into it. And when they can also hit that shot [to stop your run], it can just take the wind right out of you,” Winnebago coach T.J. Zambrovitz said. “The way Coach Ravlin has them playing defensively, they can withstand any run.

“The base of our press is to try and get people to speed up and not play the way they want to. But then they came back, they put their foot in the dirt and they recovered from it. They’ve got some good quality ball-handlers that can break that press, and they got back onto a run again.”

When the offense wasn’t rolling, the Duchesses turned to their defense. They forced 16 turnovers in the game and limited the Indians to 26% shooting (11 for 42), while out-rebounding Winnebago 45-24.

Hannah Steinmeyer was given the task of guarding Winnebago standout Schrank for most of the night, and did the job. Schrank had just one field goal and finished with five points before fouling out midway through the fourth quarter.

“I always have so much trust in my teammates on offense, so if I’m not having an offensive night, that’s a little more out of my control. But on defense, I can always control that effort, so that’s just what I focus on if I’m not playing the way I want to offensively,” Steinmeyer said. “We knew how strong they were on the drive, so we just really worked on stopping that. I feel like we’re really congruent all the time, but today we definitely locked it in.”

Day and Govig both finished with 15 points and four rebounds for Dixon, with all of Day’s points coming after halftime; Day also dished two assists and Govig nabbed three steals. Kait Knipple had five points and five rebounds, Abby Knipple added four points, seven rebounds, three steals and two assists, and freshman Reese Dambman went 3 for 4 from the free-throw line in the final two minutes to help seal the win.

“That’s just something that’s so special about our team. We don’t all need to score every game, because we have so many different roles on the team,” said Steinmeyer. who led the Duchesses with 10 rebounds. “If I don’t score, I know Harvest and Ella are going to score, or Kait and Abby. Everybody has their special role, and can step up and score when they need to, but if you don’t have it that night, then it’s somebody else’s night.”

Ella Provi led Winnebago with nine points, while Harms had six points, three rebounds and two steals. Schrank also pulled down three rebounds, DiPiazza added four points and four rebounds, and Laney Intravaia chipped in four points and three rebounds.

“Dixon is such a confident team, where we’re still searching for that confidence,” Zambrovitz said. “We got sloppy … and you can tell with their experience that they’re battle-tested. They’re one of the top teams in the conference, and they showed it.”