The Nansemond-Suffolk Academy girls’ basketball team faced Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School for the second time in nine days on Thursday, and while the result was similar both times, the Lady Saints’ winning method was a bit different.

NSA did not have 6-foot-4-inch senior center Caroline Hogg when it played the host Lady Crusaders on Jan. 19, and the Lady Saints used strong play on the perimeter led by senior point guard Harper Birdsong to win that game 64-46.

With Hogg back in the lineup on Thursday, Nansemond-Suffolk’s strong post play in the second half propelled the host Lady Saints to a 53-34 Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools victory.

NSA led 15-9 after the first quarter and 31-21 at halftime but was not breaking the game open like it was capable of doing.

Hogg and junior forward Kelly Hogan were struggling, shooting 5-for-18 from the floor in the first half.

“At halftime, I challenged them and told them they needed to shoot 75 percent in the second half,” Lady Saints coach Kim Aston said.

She was not sure what shooting percentage they ended up producing, but Hogg finished the night with a game-high 19 points to go with 13 rebounds and five blocks.

Hogan ended up with only four points, but she led Nansemond-Suffolk with 15 rebounds.

As a team, NSA out-rebounded the Lady Crusaders 53-31, “and they’re mostly a post-oriented team, so it was a good effort around the boards,” Aston said.

Aside from post play, the Lady Saints also improved from the first half to the second on defense.

“We actually, in the first half, had a couple defensive breakdowns, and they hit a couple threes and kind of inched back into it,” Aston said.

Building on its 10-point halftime advantage, Nansemond-Suffolk won the third quarter 14-2 to take charge of the game.

Stars of the Lady Saints’ defensive performance included sophomore guard Abby Herrod, who grabbed a team-high five steals.

“We knew that we wanted to get her in the game to defend their point guard, because the first game against them, she played just about the entire game and did a great job,” Aston said.

When NSA junior guard Lindsay Knierbein got in foul trouble, Herrod was the first Lady Saints substitute in the game. Though Bishop Sullivan junior Madison Moran led her team with 11 points, Herrod helped hold her to 22 percent shooting from the field.

Another defensive star for Nansemond-Suffolk was Harper Birdsong, who Aston put on the Lady Crusaders’ best player — junior Kristen DiBuono.

DiBuono scored 23 points against the Lady Saints on Jan. 19, but with Birdsong guarding her on Thursday, she managed only five.

“Harper was able to disrupt her rhythm a little bit because (DiBuono) likes to catch the ball, take a back dribble and then pull up for the jump shot,” Aston said, noting that Birdsong’s length was the problem for DiBuono.

Birdsong also had 16 points, six rebounds and six assists.

As was the case on Jan. 19, all of NSA’s reserves got to play on Thursday.

Nansemond-Suffolk (15-2, 2-0) visits Norfolk Collegiate School for a conference showdown on Monday.