The Haskell Indian Nations University’s women’s basketball team apparently tried to emulate the school’s four national-champion men’s marathon teams in a 66-59 victory over Manhattan Christian College on Tuesday.

The Indians (6-4) ran past the Lady Crusaders in the first half with a 32-18 lead, thanks in part to an aggressive defense.

“We went like six minutes at a time without scoring and that was really discouraging,” Haskell coach Phil Homeratha said. “Defensively, they only shot 5-out-of-23 the first-half and 0-for-5 (three-pointers), we shut them completely down but yet we’re only up 32-14 at halftime because we just went blank.”

Manhattan Christian turned the tables in the second half, cutting into the Haskell lead, closing within one point before HINU drove home the final nail at the Coffin Complex.

The Lady Crusaders were able to shoot 15-for-26, including 7-for-10 from beyond the arc, in the second half after the Indians dropped out of the full-court press and into a zone defense.

While the Indians gave up 41 points, they forced a total of 25 turnovers.

The thing that Homeratha liked most from the zone defense was the 38 total rebounds brought down by Haskell.

“Toward the end of the game we started limiting them to one shot and then we had them running the shot clock down a lot, too,” the HINU coach said, “and that’s the power of the zone. And supposedly you rebound better out of the zone.

“The thing is, we’re not a very physical team. We play soft and that’s not good against a good team.”

If Homeratha wants his team to become a little more physical, he just needs to have the Indians turn to Samantha Pete and Kortney Smith.

Smith came off the bench to lead the Indians with 13 points and two steals.

“I don’t even realize it when I’m out there; I just try to do anything and everything to help the team,” Smith said. “But 13 points – that’s pretty cool.”

While Pete tallied 12 points, along with a team-leading two blocks and six rebounds, Haskell’s coach wants his team to get her more touches.

“When you’ve got a shooter like Samantha Pete she’s got to be in the equation all the time,” Homeratha said. “Kortney gets hers off of hustle. There’s nothing wrong with that, but somehow we need to not let Sam get out of the seam because she’s our best shooter.”