There are windows of time in difficult, hard-pressed, closely contested basketball games.

Some let in the sunshine to heat things up and other moments bring that cold streak that can doom the outcome.

The Perry girls basketball team handled those windows well Monday night to defeat No. 2 Hamilton, 55-43, as the No. 4 Pumas take over the lead in the 6A Premier Region.

After grabbing a 28-21 halftime lead, Perry scored a single basket in the first eight minutes of the third quarter as the Huskies took a 31-30 lead on a short jumper by junior Izzy Anderson.

It was getting mighty frigid for the Pumas.

“We had some struggles offensively,” Perry senior Bella Burcar said. “We have the same game plan every game, but there are times when it’s hard to execute and score. Luckily, we were able to fix it and get back into it.”

The Pumas (16-3 overall, 3-0 in region) finished the quarter with a 14-3 run thanks to baskets by Burcar, and 3-pointers by senior Unesu Machiri and junior Alexis Fenn to build and sustain a lead the rest of the way.

First-year Perry coach Darren Fenn has forged an approach that can withstand the struggles and stay grounded in the positive surges.

“We’ve been talking about being strong mentally when it isn’t going well,” he said. “There’s no quit in us. It’s always the next play mentality. The next 10 seconds is right there in front of you. It’s not the 10 seconds that just happened or the last 3 minutes that just happened. It’s what we’ve been focused on and it’s been good for us.”

The mentality was helpful all game long as these two teams know each so well and want to beat the other so much it was a game full mostly of difficult windows on both sides.

Missed, ill-timed shots. Air balls. Turnovers. Charging fouls. Dribbles out of bounds. Telegraphed passes. Clanked free throws.

“We got too stagnant on offense,” Hamilton coach Trevor Neider said. “The ball stuck and the scoreboard stuck. In that third quarter, give us credit. We wanted to get to the line and we did. We just didn’t convert like we usually do. If we do, we're off and running and back in the game.”

Hamilton (14-6, 2-1) came in shooting 77 percent from the line but went 5 of 14 (35 percent) from the line in the third quarter and 11 of 24 overall (46 percent).

The Huskies were led by 6-foot-4 Taylor Sipfle with 14 points, Perry transfer Sage Henry with 12 points, and Destinee Benway at 10 points, all in the first quarter.

Hamiton, which scored only five points in the second quarter, was an unofficial 4 of 17 from behind the 3-point line, but it was a rare free look.

“We knew coming in this game was going to be won on the defensive end of the floor not on the offense,” Fenn said. “We just kept digging in, digging in. People came off the bench bought into the mentality needed to get it done.”

Perry was led by Burcar with 12 points, and Elleigh Molinar at 11, but it came down to making sure the windows opened and closed enough to earn the victory.

“The difference we our energy,” Molinar said. “We want to play for each other and love each other. We just want it more for each other.”

Box score

Perry 55, Hamilton 43

HAMILTON 16   5  13  9—43

PERRY            9 19  16 11—55

Hamilton (14-6, 2-1) – Anderson 2-0-4, Benway 3-2-10, Barrett 0-0-0, Romero 1-0-3, Henry 3-5-12, Farrington 0-0-0, Sipfle 5-4-14. TOTALS: 14-11-43.

Perry (16-3, 3-0) – Machiri 1-0-3, McQuiston 3-0-7, Hoar 2-0-4, Fenn 2-3-8, Jones 3-0-8, Molinar 5-0-11, Baczynski 0-0-0, Burcar 5-2-12, Shah 0-2-2. TOTALS: 21-7-55.

Halftime- Perry 28, Hamilton 21. Free throws- Hamilton 11 of 24; Perry 7 of 10. Three-pointers- Hamilton 4; Perry 6. Junior varsity-Perry 64, Hamilton 51.  P