HALE - Feb. 2, 2010 - Playing road games on back-to-back nights is never easy, so it was important for Alcona to get off to a good start at Hale on Tuesday.

The Tigers did that in spades, scoring the games' first 23 points to key a 49-31 victory. The win helped Alcona put the previous night's loss at Hillman in the rearview mirror in a hurry.

"That was definitely what we were looking for, especially defensively," said Alcona coach Dan O'Connor. "We gave up 31 points in the first half last night, so 31 for the game tonight was pretty good. We came out with great energy, contested every pass and got some good shots."

Alcona's energy and Hale's lack thereof, along with an early injury to the Eagles' Laura Sidebottom,  led the the Tigers' 20-0 first quarter. Hale didn't score until Kaitlin Scott hit a short jumper with 4:13 left in the half.

"I've never seen us look so flat," said Hale coach Shannon Chrivia. "I believe the team psyched themselves out with Alcona's size. We lost Laura early in the first quarter, and that seemed to psych out her teammates."

Amelia Oliver, Carolynn Miller and Alexa LeCureux combined for all but two of the Tigers' points in the first quarter. 

Once the Eagles got on the board they didn't fall further behind, but neither could they make up ground, trailing 30-12 at the half and 44-22 after three quarters.

"Even though it was a mismatch, Kaitlin played very hard for me tonight," Chrivia said. "Halley Wolkens also stepped it up defensively. It still seems like I can only get two to three girls to play hard at the same time."

The Tigers, who have had injury issues for most of the season, played their second game without starting center Megan Miller.

Sarah Hart came off the bench to lead the Alcona (6-8) with 14 points, with Carolynn Miller adding eight.

Scott led Hale (3-10) with 12 points.