GRAND MEADOW — The Grand Meadow girls basketball team continues to crank up the pressure as it used its defense to win its seventh straight game when it shut down Southland 49-23 in Grand Meadow Tuesday.

The Superlarks (11-6 overall) have now held their last seven opponents to 43 points or less and they held the Rebels (10-7 overall) to just five points in the first 12 minutes of the second half.

GM’s backcourt of Isabelle Olson, who had nine points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals, and Madison Hindt, who had 15 points, four rebounds and three steals, brought constant pressure throughout the night.

“You’ve always got to keep up your hustle,” Hindt said. “That sets the tone for the whole game. Our confidence level is high and we’ve played so well in practice and in games. We’re working well together as a team.”

The Superlarks had been leaning on the scoring of Riley Queensland lately, but she had just seven points as Southland focused on stopping her. GM head coach Ryan Queensland was ecstatic about how his team responded.

“It was awesome. I summed it up in one word to them and that was proud. We’ve come a long way since November,” Ryan said. “Southland played a box and one on Riley and the other girls had to step up. They found a way. Madison had a nice night, Rebecca Hoffman played well in the post and Rylee Groom did some of the little things well.”

Hindt knocked down three three-pointers in the win. She was ready to get some looks as the defense shifted towards Riley.

“We all just had to step up fill in the roles that they weren’t letting Riley have,” Hindt said. “She’s usually our big scorer and we just had to step up.”

GM has made a huge surge since it had lost six of eight games before the current winning streak.

“It’s fun to see this team grow and gel together. Southland is a tough team,” Ryan said. “They play hard and they play physical. They’re going go be one to reckon with in tournament time as they always were. It was a good win for our girls and our program.”

Southland 15    8  —  23

GM 24  25  —  49

GM scoring: Madison Hindt, 15; Isabelle Olson, 9; Riley Queensland, 7; Riley Groom, 7; Rebecca Hoffman, 3; Gina Stier, 3; Emma Hemann, 2; Kendyl Queensland, 2; River Landers, 1; free throws: 33 percent (2-for-6); rebounds: 36 (Olson, 8); turnovers: 22

Southland scoring: Lexi Smith, 8; Larissa Goslee, 5; Hatti Wiste, 4; Kelsey Mensink, 3; Bailey Johnson, 2; Brooke Allen, 2; free throws: 47 percent (8-for-17); rebounds: 28 (Goslee, 10); turnovers; 13