There’s no secret when girls basketball teams play Bolingbrook.

The Raiders are going to play tight, pressure defense from the opening tip to the closing buzzer. They are also going to share the ball on offense as they continue to wear the other team down.

That scenario played out almost exactly to script Thursday night for Bolingbrook (18-4, 7-0) in a 72-52 win over Southwest Prairie Conference rival Oswego East.

It took a little while for the Bolingbrook pressure to assert itself. The Wolves (12-9, 6-4) matched the Raiders basket-for-basket during most of the first quarter and held a 14-12 lead after Desiree Merritt – who led all scorers with 21 points – scored off an assist from Aubrey Lamberti. Bolingbrook answered with a 3-pointer by Natalie Frempong (11 points) and a basket by A’mya Simmons (12 points, seven rebounds, five assists) to take a 17-14 lead into the second quarter.

Bolingbrook never trailed again.

“I like to control the traffic on the floor,” Simmons said. “We’re always known for our defense. It’s fun for us. Once we get going and get some turnovers that turn into baskets, we keep it going. We play hard from start to finish.

“The good thing about this team is that there are no big egos. We just want to find who has the hot hand or the best matchup and give them the ball. If someone has an open shot, we get it to them.”

The Wolves pulled to within 21-20 after a 3-pointer by Annabelle Williams, but that was as close as they got. Bolingbrook got a 3-pointer from Heaven Harris (team-high 15 points, eight rebounds) and a pair of free throws by Frempong to move out to a 26-20 lead. The teams played even the rest of the first half, and the Raiders took a 34-28 lead into halftime.

Bolingbrook led 37-32 with 6:41 left in the third, then went on an 18-5 run to close the quarter with a 55-37 lead. Harris had a steal and layup in the stretch, while Kennedy Williams (12 points, six rebounds) scored twice on drives down the lane, while Skylar Wakefield (13 points, four rebounds) had a pair of baskets. Simmons had four points and an assist in the quarter as well.

“We didn’t have enough good ball movement tonight,” Oswego East coach Abe Carretto said. “Bolingbrook did a great job with their pressure. We had a lot of one-pass, one-shot possessions, and they rebounded well.

“Quickness like Bolingbrook has is hard to simulate in practice, but after playing pretty well in the first half we came out kind of flat in the third quarter, and it got away from us.”

Lamberti – who recently became Oswego East’s all-time leading scorer – was held to two points in the first half, but came alive for eight in the second half. Early in the fourth, Bolingbrook’s Williams scored off a nifty behind-the-back pass from Frempong, then turned a steal into a layup for a 61-39 lead.

The Raiders maintained the lead from there.

“With our pressure defense, we hope to wear teams down,” Bolingbrook coach Chris Smith said. “That shows up big at the end of the game. Heaven Harris did a great job bringing energy off the bench. Our top seven have been playing really well lately. We’ve figured out our rotation, and it has been going really well.

“A’mya Simmons controls the tempo for us. She has really elevated her play as the season has gone on. If we can get five or six girls scoring in double figures for us, we can be tough to beat, and we have that ability.”