New London — New London's Jada Lucas chucked up a 3-pointer at the final buzzer Thursday night. It went in.

That pushed the final score in the Whalers' favor to 53-37 over Norwich Free Academy in an Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I game at Conway Gymnasium, but they could have been the most stress-free points of the game.

The defense for New London (4-0, 2-0, ranked No. 2 in the GameTimeCT/New Haven Register Preseason Top 10 poll) was more finely tuned than the offense for much of the game, at least the first half, with both teams seemingly pressing to get ahead in what has developed into a league rivalry.

NFA (1-3, 1-1) was tied for eighth in the preseason.

"He knows us," New London coach Holly Misto said of NFA coach Bill Scarlata, commenting on the Whalers' inability to fast break as much as they'd like. "He had two guards back the whole time. He wasn't going to let us fast break. ... We had to run a halfcourt set. You want to just grind it out."

New London's Rosalee Nicholson, meanwhile, finished with eight steals to lead the Whalers' active defense.

Lucas had 17 points, India Pagan eight points and 18 rebounds and Cora Sawyer 10 points for New London, which is off until next Tuesday's game against Hand in the semifinals of the Notre Dame Christmas Tournament in Fairfield.

Because ECC Division I teams are required to find eight games to fill their schedules, NFA has also already played co-No. 8 Fairfield Warde (60-42 loss), New London and will meet up with No. 6 E.O. Smith next week.

If anything, Scarlata was pleased with his team's demeanor against the Whalers.

"It could just be New London. It's a rivalry," said Scarlata, asked what precipitated the turnaround. "It's a rivalry. They know New London's really good; they had to show something. ... I'm happy. They fought for the first time, they played with some intensity. I don't like to lose. But really, I'm happy."

Pagan converted a three-point play to cap the first quarter with New London leading 7-4 and the Whalers took a 20-15 lead at halftime following a 3-pointer by Sawyer which put them up seven with 1:10 to play in the second quarter.

New London clicked on a few more cylinders in the third quarter, getting a runner from Lucas, a perfect pass from Pagan in stride to Xaryia Melendez for a layup and a layup from Nicholson who picked up a loose ball and gave the Whalers their biggest lead of the game at 32-23.

Taina Pagan's three-point play made it 38-27 New London after three quarters.

NFA's Hailey Conley also picked up steam after sitting with foul trouble for part of the second quarter, however, scoring 17 of her game-high 18 points in the second half.

After Conley's 3-pointer got NFA back within 43-37, New London was able to use the clock in its favor, though. The Whalers forced NFA to foul and hit 7 of 10 from the free throw line, scoring the game's final 10 points.

"My shot wasn't really there," Lucas said. "I tell myself I have to go get steals. That's how I got my points."

"We're trying to be more aggressive than we were in the past," said Misto of the New London defense. "Our bench is a little deeper, so we can take that chance. I thought (NFA) did a really nice job on defense, too. ... Not every kid's going to play great every night. If you can get five or six out of your 10 or 11 to play great, that's all you can ask."

Scarlata, whose team has won five straight ECC tournament titles, said the Wildcats are still looking for another scorer to complement Conley and Mackenzie Burke (6 points).

"That's going to be the last thing," he said of the offense. "That's a work in progress."

v.fulkerson@theday.com