Napa got back to what it takes to win basketball games once the second half started.

And that was defense.

After storming through a 10-point spree to open the game, Napa’s girls basketball team stuttered a bit but finally started rolling again, finishing with a 57-36 win over Armijo on Tuesday night.

Ahead by only four points both after the first and second quarters, 17-13 and 26-22, Napa (11-6 overall, 4-1 Monticello Empire League) banded together in the locker room and hashed out what the problems were.

“We started playing down,” Napa head coach Darci Lewis said. “We started to forget what got us that lead. We weren’t trapping, defending — we kind of got lazy.”

Sophomore forward Tatum Souza led the second-half charge with five points in the third quarter and paired it with another five in the fourth quarter for a game-high 14 points. She also grabbed seven rebounds and three steals.

“We all really got into it,” Souza said. “We knew we had Vintage coming, so we needed to play with a lot of energy. The girls were saying, ‘This is not how we should be playing.’ The seniors really stepped up and told us we all need to play how we can because we weren’t playing to our potential.”

Lewis added, “That’s what needs to happen. It’s about the team stepping up. (We told ourselves) ‘We’re definitely better than this team, so start playing that way.’”

Napa travels across town to play Vintage (4-1 MEL) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday for the first Big Game of the season. The rivals are tied for second place in the MEL, behind undefeated Wood.

“I think it’s going to be a very exciting, well-matched game,” Lewis said. “I’m looking forward to that game.”

Souza added, “I’m really excited. I think it’s going to be a really great game, especially because we have the same record. It will be fun playing at their gym.”

Armijo’s Thaleya Nickson was the only other player to score in the double digits, with 10 points. Tessa Satele and Renique Fitzpatrick added eight each.

Nine different Napa players scored, with Allie Davison (one rebound), Trella Chrisco (one rebound, three steals), Noelle Roldan (four rebounds, four steals), Shannon Rankin (nine rebounds, four steals) and Maria O’Byrne (five rebounds) each scoring seven points.

Kendall Pelfini pulled down six boards and five steals and chipped in a bucket while Taylor Willis added four points, a steal and a rebound.

Napa totaled 19 steals to Armijo’s nine. Napa also out rebounded Armijo 39-29, with 21 of Napa’s boards coming at the offensive end as compared to only five by Armijo on that side of the glass.

Junior Varsity

• Armijo JV 42, Napa 33

Jenna Priest led Napa (5-12 overall, 0-5 MEL) with nine points and six rebounds while Alex Robben (five points, six rebounds), Shelby Singer (six points) and Becca Steen (five points) also played well.