LYNNFIELD —  A stifling defense and sharpshooting on the part of the North Reading Hornets – coupled with a slew of turnovers – was the kiss of death for the Pioneers Thursday night in a 65-31 rout at home.

It didn’t help that once the Hornets found their hot hand, they were deadly from behind the arc, draining 10 treys.

“North Reading’s defense is smothering. They just smother you,” said Lynnfield coach Susan Breen. “They’re not that big, but all those little guards just smother you. They’re a great team and they really shot the ball well. And while we rebounded well in the first half, we didn’t in the second half, so that also didn’t help us.”

Lynnfield came out of the gate strong and held a 5-2 lead after Emma Rose swished a 3-pointer, but that was as good as it got for the hosts. 

Trailing 11-6 after the first period, they had no answers in the second quarter as the turnovers started to add up. The Hornets’ offense heated up, resulting in a 23-8 lead with about five minutes left in the half. 

Lynnfield got the deficit down to 10, 23-13, after junior Rose hit another three, then fed freshman Maeve Wertz for two more, but after that, it was all North Reading.

Senior point guard and captain Bella Cannalonga scored a game-high 15 points, while fellow captain Caitlin Reilly was also in double figures with 11 for the Hornets.

“Lynnfield was down a couple of kids who got hurt in the last couple of games, but that said, our play at the defensive end was very strong and we also shot the ball pretty well,” said North Reading coach Bob Romeo. “We got off to a little slow start shooting, but once we got it going, we hit a bunch of shots. But it’s easy to be relaxed and shoot well when you have a big lead. And when we brought kids off the bench, we continued to shoot the ball well.”

The Pioneers were missing two key starters in junior captain Taylor Valiton and junior Erika Pasquale – both of whom were injured in a prior game.

“Anytime you’re missing starters, it’s a challenge,” Breen said. “Missing two three-year starters is tough.”

Despite the loss, Breen still saw some positives, chief among them being the play of  Wertz (8 points) and both fellow freshmen Faith Angelo (8 points, 11 rebounds) and Hayden Valiton (7 points), the younger sister of Taylor.

“Faith has been practicing with us all year but not getting many minutes, maybe just a couple of minutes here and there,” Breen said. “She also got to play a lot against Georgetown on Monday and did very well. Hayden is awesome and had a good night and Maeve did great as well. Those three freshmen all got their chance and they really stepped up.”

Rose finished with six points, while senior captain Ava Gamache added two points and five rebounds.

“I thought Emma played really well and Ava played hard, as she always does,” Breen said. “It comes down to the two of them and the rest are babies. Being so young, the other teams are just that much bigger and stronger than we are.”

As of Jan. 30, the Pioneers, who dropped to 5-8, were ranked No. 32 in the MIAA Division 3 power rankings, placing them right on the bubble as the top 32 teams qualify for the state tournament.

“We’ve just got to get healthy,” Breen said. “And we have really young kids. If we can turn the ball over a little less, we’re going to be OK. They do have flashes, but being so young, they don’t quite know what they need to do” 

The Pioneers’ next game is Monday at Ipswich with tip-off set for 5:30 p.m. North Reading’s next game is next Thursday at home against CAL rival Newburyport (6:30 p.m.).