Coaches often use the refrain “don’t quit.”

But those are just words. Thursday night’s edge of the seat 52-51 Bulldogs win at Battle is what that phrase looks like when it plays out for real.

Mexico went into the halftime break down 32-23 – and it could have been worse, but for a 5-0 rally pieced together by Mya Miller and Riley Thurman that closed out the period.

Throughout the third quarter, the Bulldogs gnawed into the Spartans advantage. However, they were still down by 6 as the clock wound down to the one minute mark. Their perimeter shots weren’t falling and they needed something big.

At that moment Riley Blevins slipped free around the arc. Thurman’s kick out pass found her in the open and for the first time on the night a Mexico three pointer hit nothing but net.

“I needed that one, too,” Blevins said. “That one felt good.”

Yet Battle kept fending the Bulldogs off, building up a 10 point cushion midway through the final period. Mya Miller has a habit of spoiling things for Mexico’s opponents. She took on Spartans big center Ke’Shai Hayes and finished off a successful plus one. Another foul put her on the line for two on her way to a 11-2 personal run.

“I was just taking what was open,” Miller explained.

Still, the Bulldogs were down 46-45 with time running out. Miller intercepted a pass on the defensive end and drove the floor, only to be tripped up. To avoid a jump ball, coach Ed Costley called a quick time out.

Just 58 seconds remained when they returned to the floor. The Bulldogs pushed the ball into the lane, but Thurman dropped back, working around the top of the key. When the ball kicked out, she plucked it out of the air and sent it toward the net in one motion.

“It was just an in the moment thing,” she said. “It just threw it up.”

The three pointer put Mexico ahead for the first time since the midpoint of the opening quarter. Miller followed with a short jumper and that was it. A last second layup and plus one by Battle’s Hayes made it a one-point affair.

“We were going to hit a big one,” Costley said. “We had some great plays.”

Mexico wasn’t fazed by their first quarter struggles – “we always start that way, Thurman observed – and although it took a while, they found a way to match the Spartans big power trio of Hayes, Kaelyn Johnson and Anna Sisson.

Miller outscored the three of them combined, 26 to their 21. Thurman hit for 14. Blevins with 8 and Capri’Ona Fountain with 4 ensured the win.

But, said Blevins, “our intensity on defense was a game changer.”

Blevins fouled a fast break by tying up Spartans guard Nautica Washington for a jump ball. Miller dove into a melee to force another jump ball. Taylor DeMint grabbed a key defensive rebound, despite the towering six-footers crowding her. Steals by Thurman and Miller repeatedly picked Battle’s pockets.

It was a relentless defense, the kind that never quits.

“We were playing our defense,” Miller said.