If there's one thing to know about the 2014-2015 San Pedro High girls basketball team this early, is that they are pretty tough and relentless on defense.

Once the Pirates fell behind 9-2 early in the first quarter against visiting Palos Verdes, they reached for that element of their game and it never failed them the rest of the night. San Pedro's in-your-face full court press eventually became too much for the Sea Kings.

To make matters worse, there wasn't a real answer on how to contain the Pirates' newly-aligned terrific trio.

Senior guard Rita Fiorenza shook off a scoreless first quarter and scored a game-high 15 points, complimented by the outstanding hustle of sophomore guard Deanna Valverde and brilliant post-play of junior forward Melannie Ortiz to pace San Pedro to a 50-23 victory over Palos Verdes, earning the Pirates their third consecutive victory. Ortiz, a South Torrance transfer, has been pretty crucial down low as of late.

San Pedro coach Cynthia Atencio called a timeout to settle the Pirates' nerves once the Sea Kings took the early advantage, and from there, it was a dramatic change in momentum and defensive intensity.

Valverde's layup and three-pointer, combined with an Ortiz rebound putback quickly evened the score at 9-9, and the teams traded buckets before the score was tied at 11-11 at the end of the first quarter. Valverde and Fiorenza scored 12 points combined in the second quarter, and the defense held Palos Verdes down, with the Pirates up 23-15 at half.

In the third quarter, Palos Verdes (3-4) could only muster two points, as San Pedro (4-2) caused numerous turnovers while Fiorenza, Valverde, junior guard Crystal Redd and sophomore guard Raeven Hayes all nailed three-pointers to balloon the Pirates' lead up to 41-17 at the end of the quarter.

That San Pedro scoring run from the middle of the first quarter to the end of the third was an incredible 39-8.

Another part of why San Pedro made this game look easy was that Atencio was able to keep her team fresh in the second half.

Valverde finished with 13 points and four steals, while Ortiz contributed with 12 points and 8 rebounds for San Pedro, who will next face Chadwick of Rolling Hills Estates on the road Friday.