(South Bend) — After years of rolling through the Northern Indiana Conference, Kristi Ulrich’s Penn Lady Kingsmen had not won a conference title since 2021.

The drought ended in a big way Thursday night at Alumni Gym.

Penn’s defense stifled a high-scoring St. Joe offense, while the backcourt of Jillian Sanderson and Alivia Dawson combined for 44 points in a 69-24 shellacking of the Huskies. The win completes a 7-0 conference season for Penn and raises the overall record for Kristi Ulrich’s squad to 19-3 for the season.

“It’s fantastic,” beamed Ulrich during her postgame show. “The kids, their level of focus was elite from start to finish. They came out and just executed right out of the game. They controlled temp, pace, everything.”

St. Joseph freshman Arianna Rowell, who entered the game as the state’s second leading scorer, was held to the lowest-scoring game of her career, tallying just 11 points on just seven shot attempts. The Huskies as a team shot a meager 19 percent from the field, as Penn’s defense harassed the Huskies into 19 turnovers.

“Not allowing her to shoot the 25-30 times she normally does was an absolute key for us,” noted Ulrich. “It’s a statement game, an eye-opening game considering how many points St. Joe was scoring.”

Meanwhile, Penn’s offense was clicking, as the freshman Sanderson and junior Dawson each scored 22 points, while Lexi Werner added 10. The more physical Lady Kingsmen outrebounded St. Joe, 41-24.

St. Joe falls to 17-4.

Penn has another huge test Tuesday night, when the Lady Kingsmen play host to Northridge. Both teams await the tournament draw Sunday at 6 p.m.