The count carries on at New London

NEW LONDON - The streak, its' fruit hangs from the gym rafters in New London. It's always a popular topic when fans talk to Head Coach Andrea Flease.

"They say after the game coach how many is that and I honestly can't answer the question," Flease said.

66 is the current win count and the players responsible for continuing it pay the streak no more mind than their coach.

Senior Brenna Heise said she there’s always someone interested in talking about how the two defending state champions are doing.

“A lot in the school, a lot in the community, but we just try to block it out because right now we're 0-0 and the next game is the biggest game of the season. That's how we go into every game," Heise said.

Mickey Roland, a junior forward, added "It's not something we really talk about as a team. It's definitely in the back of our heads. It's something to be proud of."

A major component of the winning streak is the way the Bulldogs play defense. Playing tight defense is one of the hallmarks of the New London program and it was again this year. They allowed only 29 points per contest because of the intensity they show on the defensive end."

Coach Flease said it all begins on the practice court. “The girls are getting after it. Every play they're on the ground. We have a loose ball we've got three players on the ground diving for it," Flease said.

"You gotta want to do it,” Roland said. “No ones going to make you do it. We focus on it so much that you want to play defense and our defense then leads into our offense."

Heise said that with the amount of time focused on defense the team has learned to love it.

"I know everyone on our team loves to play defense now,” Heise said. “We don't let anything come easy to them. We're always in their face we're always going all out and we're never taking a play off."

That defense limited Hortonville, New London's next opponent, to a total of just 56 points in a pair of regular season games. Still the Bulldogs aren't taking their Bay Conference rival lightly.

"That's the funny thing about March madness, “ Flease said. “It doesn't matter what happened during the regular season. Each team's going to come to play that night and whatever happens happens. But we're going to do our best to end up on the winning side of that."

The winning side is the only one New London's known for more than 2 years.