Addison Steenland understood the assignment. As did the rest of Palmer Ridge’s girls on the court.

Apply defensive pressure for 32 minutes against Lewis-Palmer and create points from the miscues.

“Defense is our identity and that’s what’s won us a couple of games,” Steenland said after the Bears’ 34-20 victory at home Friday night. “Defense is kind of my role on the team and it wasn’t a big shock to me to stay on one player and guard her. I knew I had to stay disciplined and lock in on her.”

“Her” refers to the Rangers’ lethal weapon Rylee Edmondson, who entered the Battle for Monument rivalry game averaging 17.4 per game.

Palmer Ridge (10-3) forced Edmondson and the Rangers (9-4) into numerous turnovers in the opening period and held the Lewis-Palmer junior to 2 points, which came in the final seconds of the first.

By halftime, Lewis-Palmer, which averages 51 points per game, scored a season low 7 points at the break and the Bears led 17-7.

“It’s a mental game at that point,” Steenland said. “I just need to play my game and play with confidence. I just had to play strong and do what I do best.”

The Bears forced 16 first-half turnovers and their 1-2-2 full court press never slowed in the second half. Palmer Ridge forced 10 more turnovers in the third quarter and allowed just five points in the frame.

“All of our girls realize that if you can’t play defense then you can’t play,” Palmer Ridge coach Jason Boyer said. “I have nine fast kids. Even our post players are fast and opportunistic and they’re good at anticipating where passes are going. We want to hear people breathing hard in the third quarter. That’s where we start getting more energy.”

Corinna Arellano, who scored five of her 13 points in the third, also smothered the Rangers on defense after halftime.

Arellano, who leads the Bears with 3.3 steals per game, forced two Rangers turnovers and added a pair of steals in the third quarter to help hold Lewis-Palmer in check.

“We use defense as leverage to score and that was helpful in this one,” Arellano said. “They closed the gap to 19-12 at one point, but we were able to hustle and run everywhere and that was a big focus for us. Defense is our identity and that helped in this game. They were aggressive and we knew we needed to be aggressive back. That’s what helped us win the game.”

The Bears held the Rangers to their lowest score of the season and held Edmondson to 3-of-8 shooting in the second half.

Palmer Ridge also forced another 15 turnovers in the final 16 minutes to put the Rangers at 31 for the contest.

“Getting this win feels great because we did it on the defensive end,” Boyer said. “We just lost one of our top players, senior Taylor Peterson, with an ACL injury. We’re trying to figure out who can step up and fill that role. To see the way we played tonight and the intensity they had was encouraging.”