The Peacock Toilers outscored the Vanier Spirits 18-6 in the third quarter and that allowed them to pull away for the eventual 61-33 win in the Moose Jaw High School Senior Basketball League on Tuesday night.

"We just kind of realized like 'Oh yeah, we are playing basketball, we need to get back into this game', our heads just weren't in it in the first half and we got that back in the second half," said Peacock senior Emily MacKenzie.

"We picked up our defence pretty good in the last part of the game, sometimes our offence isn't falling for us, but we get back and play tough D and that's what wins us games… we need to work more on starting that way."

It was a tight game through the first half with Peacock holding a narrow 29-20 lead at halftime.

The Spirits gave them a good fight throughout all four quarters, but Peacock's defence smothered Vanier in the second half to hold them to just 13 points.

"We played really good defence, we didn't exactly shut them down, but I'm happy with how we played tonight," said Vanier grade 10 Jewellyn McDonald.

Senior guard Piper Ingalls had a game-high 17 points in the win for Peacock, while Ana Maelde added 13. Madison Miller paced the Spirits with nine points and Jenna Meili chipped in with eight.

The Toilers' full-court press gave the Spirits trouble at times, McDonald said that is an area that they're working on.

"It's only six weeks into the season, we've got still lots to go, so I'm very proud of how the team played tonight," she said.

The win improved Peacock's record to 3-0 this season. MacKenzie said the Toilers are improving each time that they step on the court.

"Every game, even every practice, we're working hard every day, we're going into a big weekend this weekend, so this was a good wake up call for us that we need to play really hard no matter what," she said.

For the Spirits, their record dropped to 1-3 with Tuesday's loss. McDonald said they're showing signs of progress, "We have some younger players, so we're still learning how to play senior at a young age, but we're doing pretty good so far," she said.

In the other senior girls' action, the Central Cyclones rolled to a 90-31 win over the Assiniboia Rockets. Katie Coulson had a game-high 29 points, while Alexa Watterson and Nylah Seaborn poured in 14 points each.

Central is 3-1 after the win and Assiniboia drops to 0-4.

There were two boys games as well on Tuesday, the Cyclones cruised to a 119-36 win over the Rockets. Kyle Boughen led all scorers with 31 points in the win, while Ewan Johnson and Dylan Boughen picked up 13 points each.

The Cyclones remain unbeaten at 4-0 with the win and Assiniboia drops to 1-3.

The Vikings beat the Toilers, 70-59, to improve to 3-1 this season, while Peacock falls to 1-2. Javan Panko and Josh Auger led Vanier with 16 points each in the win, while Logan Findlay picked up 16 for Peacock.

The next league action is coming up next Tuesday when Peacock travels to Assiniboia and Central hosts B.C.A.