Head coach Brian Murphy emerged from the locker room doors damper than he was when he went in.

The Marshalltown girls’ basketball team hasn’t been beaten yet, and Murphy got the postgame shower to prove it.

The Bobcats beat Mason City for the first time since 2009, ending a streak of 31 consecutive losses to the Riverhawks with Friday’s 46-26 triumph in the Iowa Alliance Conference North Division opener for both teams.

Marshalltown (6-0, 1-0) got a career-high 18 points from Amairra Johnson, 16 more from Millie Heitmann, and yet another win to start a season of redemption for the Bobcats. MHS entered Friday as one of six teams in Class 5A yet to be defeated.

“Everyone feels great, and I think the number that we’re celebrating a lot is 2009,” Murphy said, still soggy from the postgame celebration. “It’s something that we’ve not been hiding from. We’ve known what it is historically, and so 6-0 is great, but breaking that streak is also big for us.

“We’ve been on the other end of a lot of Mason City games where we’re the ones getting trapped in the corner and feeling like we couldn’t handle anything on the floor and it was really satisfying to be the ones that were leaving no question about who the better team was.”

Not since Jan. 6, 2009, had that been the Bobcats. Taylor Gaffney got 15 points and 19 rebounds and Tara Hay added 14 points as that Marshalltown team made off with a 44-43 victory over Mason City in the Roundhouse. Then the Mohawks, Mason City got the return game on its home court to start a string of 31-straight Bobcat losses in the series.

Only one of those 31 games were decided by fewer than 10 points.

Marshalltown led Friday night’s matchup by as many as 22 points, only to go scoreless for a span of 8 minutes, 10 seconds between the third and fourth quarters that allowed Mason City (2-4, 0-1) to get back to within 13.

A pair of free throws for Jorja Janssen got the Bobcats back in on the action and allowed them to set up their three-quarter court zone press that pestered the Riverhawks into 28 turnovers on the night.

Marshalltown’s defense leads all of 5A in allowing just 23.67 points per game — the nearest competitor is Cedar Falls at 36.25.

“They’re riding that energy,” Murphy said. “That was not a call that came from the sideline, that was the girls’ decision. We had put [the press] in this week … and they wanted to go get them.

“The biggest difference this year that I’m seeing is we’re recognizing opportunities to be the aggressor. … I think that, to me, is the mind shift that has been huge.”

The Bobcats held Mason City to 10 points or fewer in all four quarters, sparked by eight blocked shots and 15 steals. MHS junior center Frankie Long finished with just two points but had 13 rebounds and three blocked shots, while Heitmann had 14 boards and four blocked shots.

Janssen tallied eight points and three assists, while Kinsley Bowie added a basket to go with four steals and three assists.

Nineteen turnovers gave the Bobcats something to work on ahead of Monday’s road trip at Southeast Polk (1-4).

Marshalltown 46, Mason City 26

MASON CITY (2-4, 0-1) — Magalli Gonzalez 1 1-2 3, Maggie Donald 1 0-0 2, Leah Dykstra 1 0-0 3, Gracyn Braun 1 7-10 9, Brogan Evans 1 2-4 5, Armani Caldwell 0 1-2 1, Kinnick Onder 1 1-2 3, Langstyn Brandt 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 6 12-20 26.

MARSHALLTOWN (6-0, 1-0) — Amairra Johnson 7 3-4 18, Kinsley Bowie 1 0-2 2, Millie Heitmann 8 0-1 16, Jorja Janssen 1 6-10 8, Frankie Long 1 0-0 2, Mallory Meyeraan 0 0-0 0, Keira Halsted 0 0-0 0, Morgan Hilderbrand 0 0-2 0, Melanie Fernandez 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 18 9-22 46.

MC 5 4 10 7 — 26

MHS 7 15 13 11 — 46

3-Point Goals–MC 2 (Dykstra, Evans), MHS 1 (Johnson). Team Fouls–MC 18, MHS 20. Fouled Out–Evans, Gonzalez. Technical Foul–Johnson.