Hanover — Hollis Brookline’s defensive structure stayed the same in the third quarter of Friday’s contest against the Hanover High girls basketball team. It was the Marauders who were trying to do too much.

Hanover seemed out of sync after halftime, with playmakers Maddie McCorkle and Lois Schwarz trying to force contested passes into a stingy Cavalier defense. Shots missed their targets. Defensive assignments went incomplete. Nothing worked, and Hollis Brookline turned a one-point game at intermission into a 48-26 victory in a game between two of the top teams in NHIAA Division II.

“I could understand if they were actually in our face, playing tough defense,” said Hanover head coach Dan O’Rourke, whose team fell to 7-2 in the state and 8-4 overall. “We just completely lost mental focus. We were careless with the ball against a good team like that.

“We’ve told the kids over and over: short passes, be disciplined,” he said. “If it takes 30 passes to score, it takes us 30 passes. We were just too antsy. We shot ourselves in the foot. Credit to Hollis, too. They capitalized on every mistake we made.”

The defeat was Hanover’s first of 2018 and only its second against a New Hampshire opponent in league play. The Marauders lost to Lebanon, 45-33, on Dec. 20. Hanover’s 28 points were also its second-worst of the season.

The Cavaliers led, 19-18, at the half, following a last-second basket by Lily McAdams. They never looked back, mounting a 12-0 third-quarter run that featured eight consecutive Hanover turnovers. Two free throws by Hanover’s Bella Bardales ended the Hollis run, but a 3-pointer from Christina Balsamo gave the Cavs a 34-20 lead headed into the fourth.

“I put my big girl, Liz Atkinson, back in,” said Hollis coach Bob Murphy, his team now 10-1 after extending its winning streak to six games. “She had 16 rebounds tonight. That was a big factor for us; she really controlled the boards in that second half. They weren’t really throwing up any 3-point shots from outside. That really helped us tighten the zone.”

Hanover scored eight straight points to start the fourth quarter before the Cavs closed the door. Hollis scored the last 10 points of the contest and left the court on much firmer ground as one of the teams to beat in D-II.

“This was a big game for both of us,” Murphy said.

Balsamo led all scorers with 13 points. Her sister, Joanna Balsamo, scored 11 for Hollis.

Bardales, a sophomore who has emerged as one of Hanover’s top scorers this season, led the Marauders with 11 points. McCorkle and Julia Golder scored six each in the loss.

The Marauders still feature a young squad, with 10 sophomores, three juniors and only one senior. Before the game, O’Rourke hinted at a strong incoming freshman class next year, signaling what could turn into a strong stretch of campaigns ahead for the Marauders.

Friday’s loss, O’Rouke said, felt like a missed opportunity to illustrate his team’s progress.

“At some point, we’ve got to grow up,” he said.

Hanover will have the next week to recuperate with games at Kingswood (4-7) on Monday, at Pembroke (6-4) on Wednesday and home against Kearsarge (3-7) on Friday. Its next test will come at home against Lebanon (9-2) on Feb. 6.

Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.