GORHAM — If your opponents can’t see the basket, they’re not going to score.

If they can’t even see each other, all the better.

The University of Southern Maine used physical, high-pressure defense to establish an early lead it never relinquished for a hard-fought 73-67 victory over Colby in a women’s college basketball game Tuesday night at Hill Gymnasium.

“We wanted to harass their guards to the point where they couldn’t see to get the ball inside,” said USM Coach Gary Fifield. “The first 15 minutes, we played as well defensively as I’ve had a team play defensively in a long, long time.”

Led by Renee Nicholas (3 steals, 3 turnovers) Kim Rivet (4 steals) and Nicole Garland (6 turnovers, 1 steal), the Huskies overwhelmed the Mules, holding them to seven points through the opening 11:30.

“That was probably one of the most physical games we’ve played all year,” said Colby Coach Julie Veilleux. “Credit to them, they play scrappy, they play hard, and they threw us on our heels.”

And, that was the plan; the Huskies knew they needed to keep the ball away from 6-foot-3 Jil Vaughan (21 points, 10 rebounds) and 6-2 Rachael Mack (9, 5).

“We have very good defensive guards,” Fifield said. “(Rivet) is just such a pest defensively. (Nicholas) is too. And Haley Jordan, she’s so long and athletic. They know what they can do in our system.”

Jordan also knows how to slash through a defense. She scored a game-high 23 points, including 13-of-16 shots from the line.

“I was just trying to attack the gaps and get to the hole, because we knew their big girls weren’t maybe as quick,” Jordan said. “So I wanted to get to the basket and maybe get them into foul trouble.”

“She has a great first quick step to the hoop,” Fifield said. “She’s a tough matchup.”

Garland added 18 points (including three 3-pointers) and a team-high seven rebounds. Forward Courtney Cochran added 13 points for the Huskies (16-4), who have won six straight.

“(Our defense) is all about staying compact,” said Garland, a former Deering star. “We’re able to eliminate their inside passes and rotate over and cover outside shots.”

With Colby struggling to adapt, USM rolled to a 23-9 lead, including six straight points from Jordan who went 4 for 4 from the line and drove the lane for her first field goal for an 11-5 lead.

Colby went 12 of 15 from the line, while USM was 26 of 33, a sign of how aggressively it attacked the basket.

It was a second straight loss for Colby (13-5).