After getting through some early season turmoil, the Troy Christian girls’ basketball team is starting to pick up steam as the second half of the season gets underway.

Last week, the Eagles put together a solid week, which included a big conference victory, along with some non-league success.

Troy Christian opened with an impressive 47-25 victory over Middletown Christian, a team that was led by the high scoring Makenzie Tolson who is the leading scorer in the league. That didn’t matter to the Eagles defensive leader Meredith Haddad.

“Meredith had another outstanding defensive game,” Troy Christian coach Dick Steineman said. “We played a box-and-1 on her and held her to five points.”

Meanwhile the Eagles were led in scoring by Hailey Peters with 16 points and five rebonds, while Lauren Lavy added eight points and six rebounds, Haddad scored seven points with seven assists, and Kathryn Lee scored four points with eight rebounds.

Troy Christian was down 17-14 at the half, and outscored Middletown Christian 33-8 in the second half.

“That was a big win for us, we beat two straight teams with good records,” Steineman said. “The kids are getting more confident in our team.”

“I’m really proud of the kids, it was a good win on the road.”

*Also last week, the Eagles defeated Riverside 48-20, where again they put together a big second half in their victory.

Troy Christian was leading 19-12 at the half, and outscored the Pirates 29-8 in the second half.

“We are like a water faucet, turn it on, turn it off,” Steineman said. “We struggled again to start then really played well in the second half. We have to work on playing a complete game, and play up to our potential.”

Lee led with 18 points and seven rebounds, Peters led with 11 points and 11 rebounds, Kenley Blake added eight points, while Haddad added five points and six assists.

“The girls are growing and maturing and playing really good basketball right now,” Steineman said. “We are starting to round into a good team right now.”

Troy Christian also defeated Catholic Central last week 49-16, as Peters scored 16 points with nine rebounds, Lee added eight points and five rebounds, Haddad 11 points and six steals.

The Eagles led early 15-2 after one period, and enjoyed a 31-7 lead at the half.

“It was nice to play a strong first half tonight, Steineman said. “The kids are getting better.”

The Eagles came back to defeat Piqua on Saturday to run their record to 10-3 overall.