Two fast and furious minutes.

That's all the time it took for North Schuylkill's defense to kick things into a different gear and take control of their Schuylkill League contest with host Jim Thorpe Friday night.Trailing by three points with a couple minutes left until halftime, the Spartans pressured the Olympians into six consecutive turnovers. Those takeaways resulted in six straight easy baskets and allowed the visitors to close the quarter on a 15-0 run.Thorpe, who was playing for the first time in 10 days, could never rebound and eventually fell by a 72-51 score."We were rusty early, but we played hard and did some good things," Olympian head coach Rob Kovac said. "We know when you play North Schuylkill, you're going to see pressure. We did a real good job of handling the ball for 14 minutes but then they hit us with a run and it got away from us."It's a shame because if you take those two minutes away, it's a pretty even game at halftime."After a slow start, which Kovac attributed to the week and a half layoff, Thorpe got is bearings straight and took a lead against its division foe. Three-pointers from Natalia Richards and Payton Kovac forced a 12-12 tie while inside buckets from Kaitlyn Ohl and Kayley Kovac put the home team in front.The Olympians (11-7; 4-6) maintained the advantage for over four minutes and, after a pair of Jordan Waselus free throws, were on top 24-21 with 2:12 to play in the second quarter.Unfortunately for Coach Kovac and his club, everything unraveled after that.Led by Tiffany Lapotsky, the Spartan defense suffocated Thorpe's ball handlers. Unable to get the ball over halfcourt, the Olympians watched as Averi Jordan hit three driving baskets and Lapotsky converted twice. What was once a lead for Thorpe was now a 36-24 deficit."Give Lapotsky credit," Kovac said. "She's an all-state defender ... They did a real nice job of making someone other than Kayley bring the ball up the court. Unfortunately we didn't do a good job of responding to that."While Thorpe did a better job against the pressure in the second half, it could never cut into the lead."A year ago this game wasn't competitive from the word go," Kovac said. "We've closed the gap, but that last step is the hardest ... It still might be a year away and we understand that."We're right on the verge of closing that final gap ... and when we do we feel we'll have something special here."CLOSING IN ON 1,000 ... Kayley Kovac scored a game-high 22 points and now sits at 951 in her career. Payton Kovac also contributed 11 points. For North Schuylkill (13-5; 8-3), Lapotsky finished with a team-high 19 points.BOARD WORK ... The Spartans were tough on the boards, especially at the offensive end. North Schuylkill had 16 offensive rebounds, which led directly to 15 points.JV CONTEST ... North Schuylkill captured the JV game by a 39-18 score. Sarah Gabel, with 10 points, and Natalia Richards, with eight, accounted for all of the Olympians' points.NORTH SCHUYLKILLOssman 0-0-0-0, Lapotsky 7-5-8-19, Shinkus 3-4-4-11, Peleschak 1-0-0-3, Spotts 1-0-0-2, Bonomo 0-0-0-0, Damiter 1-0-0-2, Bell 3-0-1-8, Gregas 0-0-0-0, Green 2-0-0-4, Snyder 2-1-2-6, Jordan 7-3-4-17, Zimmerman 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 27-13-19-72.JIM THORPERichards 1-2-2-5, P. Kovac 2-6-11-11, Condly 0-0-0-0, Ohl 1-3-6-5, K. Kovac 9-4-10-22, Waselus 1-2-2-4, Lignore 1-2-6-4, Gabel 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 15-19-37-51.North Schuylkill 12 24 12 24 - 72Jim Thorpe 9 15 10 17 - 51Three-pointers: North Schuylkill - Bell 2, Shinkus 1, Peleschak 1, Snyder 1; Jim Thorpe - Richards 1, P. Kovac 1.