Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes. Girard sophomore Mia Malito drives and scores through a flock of Eagle defenders during the second half Monday night. Malito led the Indians with 16 points in their 49-25 Northeast-8 rout.

GIRARD — Intensity.

Like when George Lucas used to tell actors “Faster, more intense” on set during the production of the original Star Wars in 1976, Girard coach Andrew Saxon felt that at certain times during this season his team just needed to bring just a little more intensity to the hardwood.

It’s been a point of emphasis for an Indians squad that’s had to contend with players missing time, games being rescheduled, and many of the other unusual affairs that local basketball teams have had to deal with over the past few seasons.

His players answered the call on Monday despite a winter storm knocking out most of the high school contests in the area as Girard brought early defensive energy and momentum to defend their home floor by a final score of 49-25 over Northeast-8 rival Hubbard.

“A lot of times it’ll start with defense, and then drive into offense,” Saxon said following the win. “Defense you can control, defense is how hard you want to work, offense, everybody is trying to make shots, trying to make free throws, and those types of things are great, but defense it’s all heart.

“So, that’s what we stress, get that intensity up and it’ll convert over into offense.”

Girard (9-6) induced 23 Hubbard turnovers, showing an ability to control the game with a 29-9 lead heading into the intermission. As both teams exchanged baskets in the third quarter, Girard sophomore Mia Malito helped ice the Eagles with seven out of her game-high 16 points coming in the final frame.

“I think it just all starts at practice, if we put in good work at practice it really just shows off in the game,” Malito said. “If I’m getting rebounds, I could get put backs, I could get good passes to my teammates, so it definitely helps out.”

The 5-foot-10 guard is someone who Saxon sees as a key piece in the Indians cog on both ends of the floor, but just as important as her scoring has been an ability to jump with athleticism and corral in loose rebounds.

Athleticism doesn’t come overnight, with some of Malito’s success during basketball season being derivative of work put in on polyurethane track as a member of Girard’s 4x100m and 4x400m team while also competing in the high jump and long jump.

“I’ve learned a lot running from track, I’m getting a lot faster, and just jumping wise, it helps me get a lot more rebounds, and it helps on getting back on defense when I’m sprinting down the court everytime.” Malito said.

For Saxon, who likes to play eight or nine players an evening, that added versatility with players like Malito allows for the Indians to keep bodies fresh on the court, while also making his team a deeper roster in the process.

“We stress at practice, work each other hard, work hard at all times, challenge each other at practice, that’s how you become better,” Saxon said. “That’s what I tell them all the time, practice has to be harder than the game, there’s a few games where we did not play with that intensity and it showed, but these last three or four games, I think the girls realized that our biggest adversity is our intensity.”

Hubbard falls to 7-7, with poor early starts dooming the Eagles at times this campaign, Monday evening being no exception. Still, Hubbard’s seven wins is the most they’ve recorded since the 2012-2013 season when the Eagles finished 7-16.

“We started out in the zone, and they were just killing us, so we tried to go man and it seemed to work a little bit better, but we just didn’t play very well tonight overall,” said interim Head Coach Ryan Caesar. “We can’t get down, we don’t have that one girl that could go off for us and drop 20-30 for us in the night, so we got to play as a team, so getting down like that right off the bat makes it difficult.

“We’re definitely building something, we just got to get over that hump, and right now we’re just kind of right on the cusp of doing it, but sometimes I think we’re there, and sometimes I don’t think we are.”

Girard juniors Abbie Rafferty and Sieasia Triplett each chipped in with seven points. Hubbard found balanced scoring with juniors Mary Frangos, Sophie Murphy, Livia Reese, and sophomore Peyton Slovesko all scoring five points.