New London — Jada Lucas and Rosalee Nicholson are comparable to a pair of hornets. Small, pesky, and oh-so dangerous.

Lucas, Nicholson and the rest of the New London girls’ basketball team drove Stonington batty on Friday night. The unbeaten Whalers used a dominating second quarter and 19 steals to blitz the Bears, 68-37, in an Eastern Connecticut Conference interdivision game.

“It makes you feel good when you get that steal,” Lucas said. “It just makes you feel good about yourself, and then when you finish it for an assist.”

New London head coach Holly Misto said, “I don’t think a lot of people pay attention to defense as much as they do offense. It’s all about scoring and things like that. I’ve always just enjoyed playing defense and coaching defense. I think it’s important.”

The Whalers (10-0) scored 26 points off of turnovers.

Stonington turned it over 26 times and shot 29.2 percent.

“You’re not always going to have your offense,” Misto said. “Your shot might not be falling that night. If you can hold a team with your defense, then you’re offense will eventually come. You can always rely on your defense, not your offense.”

Nicholson, a junior, showed just how much she’s evolved from last season. She had eight points, eight steals, eight rebounds and four assists for New London, ranked second in the GameTimeCT/New Haven Register Top 10.

“She understands more what I want from her,” Misto said of Nicholson. “She’s a more disciplined player this year all-around.

“When she’s knocking down shots, that’s terrific because people are going to play us zone. So that helps us tremendously. It opens things up for everybody else.”

Lucas, who has given Hartford a verbal commitment, had eight points and six steals.

Sophomore forward Xaryia Melendez continued to become a key part of New London’s attack with 15 points, nine rebounds, three assists and six steals.

Stony Brook-bound senior India Pagan added 15 points for the Whalers, who had 19 assists.

Senior Cameron Dreher had 11 points and 12 rebounds for Stonington (7-4) and sophomore Aliza Bell added 11 rebounds.

The game was close for a quarter with New London leading, 11-8.

Lucas and Nicholson tore into the Bears to start the second quarter. They accounted for all but two points during a 14-0 run that pushed the Whalers ahead, 25-8. And if Lucas and Nicholson weren’t scoring, then they were responsible for a steal and/or an assist.

“When you get steals, it converts to offense,” Lucas said. “It’s an easier way to score when you get your offense from your defense.”

New London outscored the Bears in the second quarter, 22-2. It led by as much as 62-23 with six minutes left in the game.

“We talked about being more aggressive this year because our bench is deeper,” Misto said. “We’re trying to be a little more aggressive and have active hands on defense.

“It’s more important for me to hold a team down versus us going crazy on offense. We stress a lot about having active hands and moving your feet.”

n.griffen@theday.com