Crown Point — The third time was a charm for Crown Point, as a late defensive push gave Bulldogs coach Tom May his 400th career coaching victory in a 54-49 win over Lake Central.

“This is the way you want your 400th victory to be,” May said. “The game was dead even at halftime. Then Lake Central made a run and started to pull away, and then we made one. We had to fight for everything tonight to win this one.”

Trailing 30-21 midway through the third quarter, Crown Point (10-6, 5-5 DAC) upped its defensive pressure, forcing the Indians into 11 second-half turnovers.

Led by point guard Cassie Pruzin, who finished with 16 points, seven assists and six steals, Crown Point went on a 31-11 run in the game’s next eight minutes to take a 52-41 lead.

“Their defensive pressure, full court, gave us a lot of trouble tonight,” Lake Central coach Tom Megyesi said. “They got a lot of easy buckets off our turnovers and it seemed like we had to work for every point we scored tonight.”

Bulldogs Jill Weiand and Stephanie Sandilla complemented Pruzin with needed support by hitting open shots late in the game along with strong inside post play.

“The difference between tonight’s game and the last two we played that we lost was that we weren’t able to execute offensively as a team,” May said. “Tonight players hit the open shots and others stepped up for us besides Cassie.”

Weiand finished with 14 points and six rebounds, all on the offensive glass, while Sandilla ended up with eight points and four boards.

The Indians (8-7, 5-5 DAC) made a game of it late, cutting the lead to 52-49 with eight seconds to play on a 3-pointer by Linsey Smith, who finished with a game-high 17 points.

Pruzin then followed by netting two free throws to ice the game.

May, who was awarded the game ball for his accomplishment, has a career record of 400-143 in 24 years as a head coach.

“Even though the kids and parents have changed,” May said, “I haven’t changed in terms of my approach to the game.

“I think that is why we have had so much success here at Crown Point.”