Mid Peninsula’s Sarah Hanson, left, tries to drive past Munising’s Nykole Fitzgibbon on her way to the basket during their Skyline Central Conference game played in Perkins on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2017. (Escanaba Daily Press photo by Avery Bundgaard)

PERKINS — Defense and a big second half propelled the Munising girls basketball team to a dominant win Thursday night against Mid Peninsula.

The Mustangs cruised to a 64-24 victory, forcing 33 Mid Pen turnovers in this Skyline Central Conference matchup.

“You play a team like Munising and they’re going to cause you to turn the ball over,” Wolverines coach Bobby Reichel said. “We expected it, we understood it, and we practiced against it. You can’t simulate that in any practice so it’s just a matter of slowing down a little bit.”

Mid Pen (8-7, 5-5) hung with Munising (14-0, 8-0) in the first half. The Mustangs held a 16-9 lead after the first quarter but the Wolverines came out strong in the second quarter as junior Haley Trudell scored five quick points to cut the lead to two.

Munising responded well as they rattled off a 16-2 run to take a 32-16 lead into halftime.

“Give Mid Pen and Coach Reichel all the credit in the world in the first half,” said Mustang coach Matt Mattson. “They got more loose balls and more jump balls. We were getting outhustled and that doesn’t happen that much to us.”

The third quarter is where Munising started to pull away. They forced 12 turnovers and pushed the ball. The Mustangs started the second half slowly, missing their first five shots, before finding their groove by going on a 14-2 run to push their lead to 46-21 after three.

“The second half I thought we came out and played our style of basketball a lot better,” Mattson said. “The second half I thought we played a lot better than the first.”

Senior Marissa Immel led the Mustangs with 17 points. Junior Kelsea Ackerman had 12 and senior Frankie Mattson added 11.

Trudell led the Wolverines with 11 points.

Mid Pen travels to Superior Central Monday while Munising hosts Forest Park on Tuesday.