NEW WILMINGTON — Offense wins games, but defense puts hardware in the trophy case.

It’s a time-tested mantra, but living by it is a big reason why North Catholic has celebrated the new year more recently than they’ve walked off the basketball court on the wrong side of the scoreboard.

The Trojanettes extended their win streak to 18 games with a 51-34 PIAA Class 4A second-round girls hoops playoff victory over Harbor Creek Wednesday night at Westminster College. They did everything short of put up a fence in the paint in the effort.

“We put a lot of emphasis on defense at practice,” said senior guard Dacia Lewandowski, who has superstitiously worn the same pair of socks for every game this go-round. “If our offense isn’t flowing, we know that our defense will flow, and our defensive will translate to our offensive end.”

Getting on the board wasn’t a problem at the outset. North (24-3) got quick baskets from Lewandowski and Alayna Rocco — both assisted by Tori Drevna — and made it 8-0 after Ava Walker’s and-one with just over three minutes gone in the first.

In the two and a half minutes that followed, the Huskies woke up and pulled within two. Lewandowski grabbed a couple of steals near half-court in the few minutes after, boosting the Trojanettes back to a nine-point lead 1:20 into the second frame.

“She’s usually assigned with one of the other team’s best players,” Rottmann said of her standout senior. “No. 2 (Brooke Przybylski) is one of their best players and scorers, so we made sure we put Dacia on her because she’s going to put a lot of ball pressure on her and do a good job.

“Her getting those steals is her just working hard, sitting down, timing it ... We certainly think about the matchups and who we want guarding who.”

Harbor Creek (20-7) only bucketed 15 points in the final 16 minutes. The Huskies scored on the drive only once the entire game and put up most of their shots from behind or just inside the three-point line.

“They’re good, they’re quick, they’ve got five real quality players on the floor at any and every given time,” Harbor Creek coach Mark Corey said. “We got beat by a good team tonight.”

Przybylski scored all but four of the team’s points in the second half, over half of which came courtesy of the charity stripe.

“We definitely focus on it,” Rottmann said of her crew’s defense. “That’s the biggest thing ... Sometimes you’re going to have off nights offensively — you’re going to see zone, you’re going to see man — but as far as what you can control is how you play defense consistently and rebounding.”

Rottmann praised her assistants — Bill Larkin, Kate Lewandowski, Lynn Roman, and Lauren Wolosik — for their work with breaking down the Trojanettes’ tape and focusing on those two aspects.

The experienced unit has worked well together. Only two opponents have eclipsed 50 points during North’s surge.

“Even if you’re in man-to-man, it’s team defense,” Rottmann said. “The next person has got to be mid-line and maybe rotate to help. They do a nice job of getting that done.”

Rottmann brushed aside any mention of momentum.

“I’m only going to talk about the next game, because it doesn’t matter after that,” she said. “We have three days of basketball left. That’s all I know for sure.”

Speaking for the rest of the crew, Dacia Lewandowski described how the squad is feeling.

“As a team, our energy, our level, our everything is up and really high,” Lewandowski said. “We’re going into every game with the thought of, ‘We want to win a state championship this year.’”

Rocco led all scorers with 17 points. She hit a pair of treys in the third quarter that helped put the opponents further in the rear-view mirror. Lewandowski added 12 and, for the Huskies, Przybylski totaled 14 and Samantha Zank 12.

NORTH CATHOLIC 51

Alayna Rocco 5 3-3 17, Dacia Lewandowski 4 4-4 12, Ava Walker 3 2-2 8, Tori Drevna 3 0-0 7, Anna Waskiewicz 2 0-0 4, Sarah Loughry 1 0-0 3. Totals: 18 9-9 51.

HARBOR CREEK 34

Brooke Przybylski 3 6-8 14, Samantha Zank 5 0-0 10, Georgia Weber 2 0-0 5, Elise Benim 1 2-2 5. Totals: 11 8-10 34.

North Catholic 16 12 13 10 — 51

Harbor Creek 7 12 9 6 — 34

3-point goals: North Catholic (Rocco 4, Drevna, Loughry); Harbor Creek 4 (Przybylski 2, Weber, Benim)

Saturday: North Catholic vs. Wyomissing, time and site to be announced