Any fan in attendence at Napa High’s Messner Gymnasium Thursday night definitely got their money’s worth, as the Napa High School girls basketball team extended its win streak with a victory over rival Vintage High School, 57-40.

The Crushers gave the undefeated Indians a scare in the first half, holding Napa scoreless for the first four and a half minutes of play.

Napa finally got on the board with a Karyn Franco free throw, making it 4-1 in favor of the Crushers.

Vintage’s tough defense in the first half, led by Marisa Hatcher, gave the Indians a tough time, but Napa closed the gap in the second quarter after completing the first quarter trailing 13-5.

Vintage’s first-quarter points were the work of Michelle Yeoman and Hatcher with four apiece, as well as three from Jessica Zeller and a bucket from Katie Montez.

Napa turned it up in the second quarter with help from Bonnie Freeland, who put up five points. With 3:42 left in the first half, the Crushers were still ahead 17-11.

“Bonnie had a fantastic first half,” Napa head coach Darci Lewis said. “She played smart defense and pushed the ball to score.”

Freeland hit Vanessa Priest for a quick two points and Freeland followed it up with a three-point shot of her own as the Crushers watched their lead shrink to just one, 17-16. With 55 seconds left to go in the half, Napa ran a motion offense and Franco found Priest to tie the game at 18-18.

Hatcher responded with a bucket of her own and forced up a shot with 30 seconds left, putting the Crushers up 20-18. But with just 3.2 seconds on the clock, Napa’s Lindsey Dreher nailed a buzzer beater to tie it up 20-20 going into the locker room at halftime.

Napa used its mid-game break to stress its defensive approach.

“We talked about our defense and who the key people to cover were,” Lewis said. “We needed to fix our help defense. Vintage had made a lot of adjustments since that last time we faced them and came out ready to play.”

The Indians took their coaches’ words to heart and came out strong in the second half — and looked more like the Napa team of old.

Napa’s defense worked the court at both ends, forcing Vintage turnovers and capitalizing on the mistakes.

“We went into the second half with the mentality that it was a new game since it was 20-20. We knew we needed to go out and play our game,” Freeland said.

The Indians took their first lead of the night when Nicoletta Geyer grabbed a defensive board and went coast to coast for a layup, 22-20.

Katie Keilig turned around and stole the ball from Vintage and took her turn running the length of the court for a bucket.

Geyer’s third-quarter presence on the court carried the Indians’ offense, as the senior posted 14 of her 21 total points in the quarter.

“Nicoletta came out strong in the second half. She was looking to pass but not afraid to look for the three. She was ready to go,” Lewis said.

The Crushers still hung with Napa, as Hatcher added six more points.

But it was the Indians, with the help of Geyer, who widened their lead and closed the third quarter ahead 38-31.

The Indians used the fourth quarter to pull ahead and give themselves their first solid cushion of the night. Dreher opened the fourth with a jumper, putting Napa ahead 40-31. Montez answered back with bucket of her own, but Keilig found Geyer for two Napa points. The Indians inched ahead and with 5:09 left in the contest, Napa was leading 48-35.

Montez and Hatcher did their best to keep their team in the game but the Indians dominated the fourth quarter of play to give them the final edge and their eventual victory.

“The kids played their hearts out,” Vintage coach Dave Holman said. “It’s always frustrating to play the best team in the league without one of your big guns. Napa’s fast break just killed us, but the girls played the best possible game they could have.”

Napa improves to 10-0 in league play (23-0 overall), while Vintage drops to 6-4 in the MEL (13-9 overall).

• Vintage JV 53, Napa 46

In junior varsity action, the Crushers bested Napa, again in nail-biting fashion. Vintage had a six-point lead with a minute and a half to go. Napa closed the gap to four on a layup with 42 seconds left. But Vintage hit two final free throws with 12 seconds left to give the Crushers the final advantage over Napa.