SHOOTING — Harrison Central’s Emily Cope tries a layup against Bellaire on Friday night. - Nick Henthorn

BELLAIRE — The Bellaire Big Reds threw the first punch Friday inside the ‘House of Champions’ against visiting Harrison Central, and the Big Reds had the Huskies on the ropes the rest of the way.

Bellaire moved to 3-0 on the season with a 60-37 victory over Harrison Central, a win sparked by 25 points from Aubree Hines and a tenacious defensive effort which resulted in 23 Huskies turnovers.

“We kind of won the game in the first half with our pressure and relentless defense,” Bellaire head coach John Farrier said. “The second half we had to back off of it and play more half court because we had some girls in foul trouble and we didn’t want to take a chance on losing one. But I thought the second half, it was a physical game, but we closed it down in half court defense. So we saw a little bit of both, our full court pressure was getting after and humming a little bit, but then when we had to be in the half court defense, we did a good job solidifying that end too.”

Bellaire never trailed Friday, and built a double-digit lead as early as a 19-9 advantage. The Big Reds led 22-11 after the first quarter.

We came out with a lack of intensity and a lack of effort that I did expect because we are young,” Harrison Central head coach Chace Smith said. “Starting two sophomores and a freshman, we have two freshmen that are off the bench. We’re gonna have highs and lows and that’s understandable, but we have some girls that are struggling, that just didn’t have the effort and intensity that you have to have when you come to Bellaire against any Bellaire team, no matter who they have.”

Harrison Central moves to 0-2 on the young year.

Hines was instrumental in Bellaire’s early offensive output with 10 points in the opening quarter. Tamya Morgan finished with 13 points and eight rebounds, Kayla Edgar scored 10, and Jaela Phillips scored eight.

Farrier was pleased with his offense, top-down.

“The other thing we did spectacularly, I thought, in the first half was that about every score was assisted by somebody. We were making the extra pass for easy shots and layups. And so we did a great job on defense creating turnovers, but then we did a great job on offense, finding the open person for the bucket. So we played great team defense, great team offense. I was happy with the way we played.”

Bellaire had 11 assists as a team.

Harrison Central was led by nine points from Shayla Namath off the bench, all of her scoring coming in the second half. Emily Cope scored eight, and Bailey Smith scored seven.

Smith saw improvement from his team in the second half.

“We had a long talk at halftime and I’ll say that I finished the game with six to eight girls that understood the concept of intensity and effort and the level of awareness that we need. You know, I’m not sure how many we’re gonna win or lose this year, but I have to get through to them what it takes to succeed at this level defensively.

“Some are starting to get it and some are not yet. It’s going to be some highs and lows, like I said. But that was my goal in the second half for them to understand what we have to do the rest of the season. There’s a long season, 20 games left and if we don’t get it now, it’s gonna be long.”

Bellaire led 34-16 at halftime and 43-27 going into the fourth quarter.

Bellaire 60, Harrison Central 37

BELLAIRE (60) – Kendle 1 0-0 2; Edgar 3 3-4 10; Phillips 3 2-2 8; Morgan 6 1-4 13; Hines 7 11-16 25; McShan 1 0-0 2; Totals 21 17-26 60. HARRISON CENTRAL (37) – Whipkey 0 2-2 2; Pelegreen 2 1-2 6; Smith 3 0-0 7; Visser 1 0-0 2; Cope 4 0-0 8; Conley 0 3-4 3; Namath 3 0-0 9; Totals 13 6-8 37.

Three-point goals: Bellaire 1 (Edgar). Harrison Central 5 (Namath 3, Pelegreen, Smith)