CROWN POINT — Alex Webster hopes she and her Crown Point teammates have survived the worst of it.

The Bulldogs have won their last two games, but it certainly hasn’t been pretty. Crown Point won the physical contest over Highland 35-26 on Tuesday.

“Tonight was ugly again and I hope we are getting this virus out of our system now,” Webster said after scoring a game-high 14 points. “We haven’t had much focus lately and it really showed tonight.

“Now, we need to take some time to calm things down and to get back on track.”

Highland (5-4) struggled in the first half, turning the ball over 17 times and made only one field goal in 16 minutes.

But it stayed in the game with some tough defense, holding Crown Point to 10 field goals in the contest.

“We turned it over too much, but we settled down in the second half,” Highland Coach Chris Huppenthal said. “It is tough when you lose as many points as we did because you’re asking kids to do some things they never had to before. We’re still defining roles, but we get better every game.”

Class 4A No. 20 Crown Point (7-2) had a 12-5 halftime lead, but it could’ve been a lot more than that. The Bulldogs were only 5-of-27 from the field despite getting good looks.

“We shot terribly in the first half and fortunately, we played good defense,” Webster said. “It’s great to hold a team under 30 points, but we need to score more than we did.”

Despite that, Crown Point came out with more intensity in the second half and took control early in the fourth quarter.

“There was no flow to the game at all and it was extremely ugly, but you just have to do your best to survive it,” Crown Point Tom May said. “I thought we stepped up our physical play in the second half and we made smart decisions down the stretch.

“We knew Highland was going to make a run (in the second half), but we had the mental toughness to withstand it.”

Webster struggled with her shot in the Merrillville victory on Friday despite scoring 15 points. She had only two field goals in this contest, but scored 10 points off free throws.

“My shot felt more natural in this game and I felt comfortable at the (free throw) line,” she said. “I knew she (Lyndee Arnold) would be guarding me and she did a good job.”

Arnold is Highland’s defensive stopper and she aggressively guarded Webster. Arnold held Webster to two field goals and four shot attempts.

“She always does an excellent job defensively and she worked her butt off tonight,” Huppenthal said of Arnold.

Pruzin started her second game at point guard for Crown Point and she had eight points.

“She has all the tools to be an outstanding guard, but what she lacks is a physical presence and some mental toughness,” May said.

“When you’re young like she is, there are going to be some mountains and valleys.”

Senior point guard Ashley Plumley sat out this game, but she will be back for the game against Valparaiso on Saturday.

“Right now, we have some internal problems on the team and we are working them out,” May said of the situation.

Julie DeMuth led the Trojans with eight points.

“She is an aggressive player; that’s her game,” Huppenthal said.

“She’s always in there to get the rebounds and attacks the basket well.”

Reporter Annette VanDeCar can be reached at 648-3141 or by e-mail at avandecar@post-trib.com