NORWELL — For some athletes, a loss can linger for a long time. Some wonder what they could have done better.

Norwell girls basketball star Madison Oliver remained persistent with her training. On Thursday, the junior captain helped the Clippers avenge their lone loss, while silencing a vaunted rival in the process. Oliver registered a double-double (23 points, 10 rebounds), as Norwell upended previously-undefeated Sandwich, 54-41.

“Right after that loss at the beginning of the season, we knew we were going to come back and try to get them,” Oliver said. “That was definitely not our best game. Through practices the past couple of weeks, we’ve just been pushing each other so much on the defensive end. We just knew we had to box out, play our hearts out. That’s definitely what we did.”

The league opponents met back on Dec. 15, with Sandwich rolling to a 45-32 victory. This time around, the Clippers decided to flip the script. Norwell (10-1) opted to do so by implementing defensive pressure from the opening jump, refusing to allow the Blue Knights (11-1) from gaining any semblance of tempo on the offensive end. The plan worked to perfection, as the Clippers built a 16-6 lead through one quarter.

“For us, it was about getting back on defense and rebounding,” said Norwell coach Matthew Marani. “We knew they were a good team, we knew that we had our work cut out for us. We knew Madi Lawrence is an awesome player, their point guard is fantastic. It was really about the little things.”

Oliver flipped a switch herself in the second quarter by taking the paint over. She registered eight of her points in the frame, as the Clippers took a 27-17 lead into halftime.

“As a junior this year, there’s been a focus that seems to have been added to her game,” Marani said. “Not that she wasn’t before, but it’s just that she is so locked in on every possession. She seems to be such on the same page with her teammates, that it’s taking her to that next level.”

Sandwich was perfect on the season, however, and the Blue Knights staged their rally in the early stages of the final stanza. They would get as close as eight with 4:36 left at 42-34, keyed by a 7-0 run led by Aubrie Schwager. The teams proceeded to trade buckets, with Oliver playing crucial minutes down the stretch along with Reagan Dowd and Alex Cassidy.

“We wanted (this) so bad,” Dowd said. “We’ve been practicing all week against different zone presses, and different defenses that (Sandwich) threw at us. It was a really good team win.”

Dowd added 14 points for the Clippers, while Cassidy (10 points, nine rebounds) added a spark.

Schwager and Lawrence finished with 10 points apiece to pace Sandwich.