West Branch's Alli Kanagy drives against Salem's Emilee Lewis on Wednesday. (Salem News/Gary Leininger)

BELOIT — It was truly a tale of two halves when arch-rivals Salem and West Branch collided in an Eastern Buckeye Conference girls’ basketball showdown before a large crowd in the West Branch Fieldhouse Wednesday night.

Salem forced 12 turnovers from the favored Warriors in the opening 16 minutes and only trailed by two points (17-15) at halftime. But in the second half that all changed, as the host Warriors ramped up their defense while forcing 12 turnovers out of the Quakers en route to a 41-22 triumph over Salem.

It marked the Warriors’ fifth straight win over Salem over the past two-and-a-half seasons.

“Defensively is where we set the tone in the second half,” praised West Branch head coach Walt DeShields. “To give them only seven points in the whole second half, our girls did a great job defensively. We pretty much eliminated the good looks at the basket for them and got rebounds to limit them to one shot.”

“Obviously, in the third quarter we just had too many bad possessions in a row that resulted in baskets for them, it’s very simple,” said Salem head coach Matt Mowery. “It’s more of what we did to ourselves than maybe what they did to us, so we just have to fix that.”

After leading by two points at the break, the Warriors outscored the Quakers 24-7 after intermission.

“In a game like this against West Branch, a team like that, you can’t make mistakes and we did tonight,” said the Salem coach.

“Really, we just needed to play better defense,” said West Branch’s Audrey Eaton, who scored a game-high 13 points, including a three-pointer. “The defense was not good in the first half, but we came out in the second half and we try to hold each team to their lowest point total of the year. After one of the timeouts in the fourth quarter, he (DeShields) came up and said, ‘Let’s go, let’s hold them to their lowest point total of the year, and we did that.”

West Branch also featured a well-balanced offense as following Eaton in the scoring column were 6-foot-1 freshman Madi Hoopes with seven points and a game-high 13 rebounds, while teammates Hallie Vie Burton and Tallie Muniz finished with eight and seven points, respectively. Alli Kanagy added four points.

“(Hoopes) is a dynamic player for us and I know the seniors really love her on the floor with them,” said DeShields of his freshman standout. “She’s done a great job at both ends of the floor for us. Her length causes a lot of problems (for opponents) offensively and defensively.”

Pacing the Quakers was standout Abby Knickerbocker ,who scored nine points despite facing some strong defense throughout the contest. Teammates Maddy Andres and Peyton Colbert finished with five points apiece.

“Hallie Vie (Burton) had (the defense) on Knickerbocker most of the night and did a great job on her,” said DeShields. “She’s a good player and Hallie Vie held her to nine and I think she’s averaging about 18 or 19 a game.”

With the win, West Branch improved to 10-1 overall and maintained its unbeaten record in EBC at 5-0 as the first round of league play concluded.

Eaton talked of the Warriors’ goals this season.

“First, just take each game one at a time, but overall, win the EBC and go from there,” said the junior standout.

With the setback, the Quakers are now 8-5 overall and 2-3 in conference play.

Salem forced seven first-quarter turnovers out of West Branch and jumped out to a 6-4 lead after one.

“Our first quarter was not good, we were throwing passes that don’t need to be made,” explained DeShields.

West Branch cut down on its miscues against Salem’s pressure in the second quarter and the Warriors managed a hard-earned two point (17-15) lead at intermission.

Eaton and Hoopes led the Warriors in the first half with six points each, while Salem was paced in the opening 16 minutes by Knickerbocker and Colbert with five points apiece.

“I thought we played two really good quarters to open the game,” said Mowery. “We had a game up at Chaney earlier in the week and I thought the girls responded well in the first half here, but again, we’ve got to fix some things. Plain and simple, we’ve just got to be better.”

With Salem trailing by just five points (22-17) at the outset of the third quarter, West Branch’s swarming defense forced eight turnovers out of the Quakers in the frame while outscoring Salem 15-4 and taking a 32-19 lead after three.

“Just keep pushing, we were up two (at halftime) and we didn’t feel like we played very well and they did,” said DeShields of what he told his team at the break. “I told them to just keep wearing them down. I thought we had a little more depth and they got into a little bit of foul trouble there and we kept attacking the rim.”

The trend continued in the fourth quarter as the Warriors outscored Salem 9-3 and both coaches cleared their benches in the closing minute.

“I think this game was a lot closer than what the score indicated,” observed Mowery. “We were there and they tired us out at the end because with the lead they were going to play keep away.”

“I thought we did real well spreading the floor on them and getting some easy shots when they were a little bit tired in the fourth quarter,” stated DeShields.

Game notes

• West Branch defeated the Quakers 34-24 and 36-32 last season.

• Salem returns to the hardwood Saturday afternoon at Alliance in an EBC contest.

“They (are much improved,” said Mowery. “They’ve won some games this year, so we’re not going to overlook them, that’s for sure.”

• West Branch is also back in action Saturday afternoon in EBC play at Minerva.

“It’s the Lions’ Den down there and anytime you play on the road in the EBC you’ve got to be ready to play,” said DeShields.

SA: 9- 6-4 -3–22

WB: 4-13-15-9–41

SALEM SCORING: Noa Martin 0-0-0, Karlie Sampson 1-0-2, Garyn Rohm 0-0-0, Shae Burkhart 0-0-0, Ava Lee 0-0-0, Peyton Colbert 2-1-5, Abby Knickerbocker 4-1-9, Ryann Vross 0-1-1, Maddy Andres 2-0-5, Emilee Lewis 0-0-0. TEAM TOTALS: 9, 2-4: 22

WEST BRANCH SCORING: Iris Nezbeth 0-0-0, Elli Colian 0-0-0, Alli Kanagy 1-2-4, Alinee Bacconi 0-0-0, Madi Hoopes 2-3-7, Sydney Lane 0-0-0, Sammi Beatty 1-0-2, Carly Loper 0-0-0, Tallie Muniz 3-1-7, Hallie Vie Burton 3-2-8, Audrey Eaton 4-4-13, Ciera Evans 0-0-0. TEAM TOTALS: 14, 12-22: 41

Three-point goals: Salem 2 (Abby Knickerbocker 1, Maddy Andres 1); West Branch 1 (Audrey Eaton 1).

Total fouls: Salem 14, West Branch 11. Fouled out: none.