East Lyme — It was a troublesome week to be a No. 1 team in the state of Connecticut.

First New London High School's heralded girls' basketball team — after turning back all in-state challengers to round out December and ascend to the top spot — took a loss Wednesday at Rhode Island luminary South Kingstown. Then, Thursday, it was UConn's turn in the NCAA ranks, going deep into the heart of Texas for a loss to Baylor.

It was in true New London fashion, however, that the Whalers fixed things.

With defense.

New London, beginning the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I portion of its schedule, held East Lyme to 16 points in the first half Friday night on the way to a 59-34 victory.

"After practice (Thursday), we watched game film," New London senior Spencer Roman said of the South Kingstown game, a 45-43 defeat and the Whalers' first in the regular season since the 2016-17 season. "We weren't playing New London basketball. We were walking up the court.

"... Playing defense, that's what will win the game. We're not going to win the games if we have to go back and forth with scoring."

The Whalers (7-1, 1-0) had plenty of defense against East Lyme, securing 19 steals, a team-high six from Roman. That helped when New London's offense was slow to start, giving the Whalers a 15-11 lead over the Vikings after one quarter and a 25-16 advantage at halftime.

East Lyme led 11-10 on a fast break basket by Sophie Dubreuil, but a putback by Xaryia Melendez gave New London the lead for good at 12-11 and Whalers freshman Joniyah Bland-Fitzpatrick buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the opening quarter.

Megan Bauman and Katie Durkee hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the third quarter to get East Lyme within 33-28, but New London reeled off 16 straight points, finding its offensive touch.

Roman started the run with two free throws and a fast break basket to end the third quarter and Bland-Fitzpatrick picked up where she left off to start the fourth, completing a bank shot while falling down. Tai Pagan hit consecutive baskets, followed by Da'Jah Uzzle, Jayden Burns and Roman on an assist from Burns to end the string with the Whalers leading 49-28.

East Lyme finally scored with 2 minutes, 42 seconds remaining in the quarter on a 3 by Dubreuil, who finished with a game-high 17 points.

Pagan had 14 points and 15 rebounds for New London, while Bland-Fitzpatrick had 12 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Burns and Roman each added 10 points and Melendez had 11 rebounds.

"Losing wasn't disappointing, the way we played was disappointing," New London coach Holly Misto said of Wednesday's loss. "I think they realized all the things they were doing wrong. They fixed all the things they did wrong."

The Whalers were taking on an East Lyme team (4-4, 0-1) which started its season with difficult losses to Bacon Academy and current top 10 teams in No. 5 Notre Dame-Fairfield and No. 8 Newtown. The Vikings also have a 56-55 win to their credit over No. 6 East Haven and had won four straight entering the meeting with New London.

"These kids have been on the road a lot," Misto said of New London's sluggish start offensively against East Lyme. "A big crowd. There were a lot of East Lyme fans here. ... We still had a couple breakdowns (on defense). We'll fix that. I'll take that."

"They were confident they were going to beat us," Roman said. "I was determined not to let that happen."

This is the first season for Burns, a sophomore guard, playing for the Whalers under Misto. This was one of her best efforts thus far, hitting 3-pointers in each of the first two quarters to spark the Whalers. She added three steals and two assists.

"Most definitely," Burns said, asked if she likes Misto's defense-first style. "If you play hard on defense, that helps win games. ... It was a big win, another game after a tough loss."

v.fulkerson@theday.com