Allen County-Scottsville's Cayden Ross (1) shoots for two Tuesday, November 28, 2017, between South Warren's Eddie Bahic (21) and Daniel Moore (24) during Allen County-Scottsville's 63-30 win at South Warren High School. (Bac Totrong/photo@bgdailynews.com)

The South Warren girls’ basketball team opened the season with a bang, rolling past Allen County-Scottsville 73-45 on Tuesday at South Warren High School.

South Warren (1-0) was deadly from 3-point range – hitting 13 on the night from six different players – while limiting its mistakes with five turnovers to take the season opener against the Lady Patriots for a second straight season.

“It was sort of a dream start,” South Warren coach Blane Embry said. “It’s a good start, but it is just the first game of the year. It was a good test. Allen County is going to win a lot of games. They just lost their point guard … but I would say by tournament time they are going to have a nice little team.”

South Warren opened the season as the No. 1 team in the Daily News Area Top 10. The Spartans looked the part with a dominating performance Tuesday.

Allen County-Scottsville scored the first point of the night, but it was all South Warren from there.

South Warren began its barrage from behind the arc, hitting five 3s during a 23-0 run that made the score 23-1 late in the first quarter. The lead grew to 29-3 after a pair of 3s from Natalie Pierce early in the second period.

“We executed our first offensive possession really well,” ACS coach Brad Bonds said. “We got what we wanted to get. We finished 1-for-2 from the free-throw line and then it seemed like the next four or five possessions they were just empty, rushed possessions. Every time, they came down and buried a 3 or a long 2. The psyche behind that was demoralizing for our kids.”

Allen County-Scottsville ended an 0-for-13 drought from the field to start the game when Sarah Sutton’s jumper made the score 29-7 with 5:10 left in the half. The Spartans went more than 12 minutes without a turnover, and finished the half with one turnover. South Warren led 42-18 at the break, shooting 10-for-19 from the field from 3-point range.

“I had no idea (South Warren had one turnover in the first half),” Embry said. “I’m such a rebound-oriented coach. I didn’t feel like we were doing a great job on the boards, but if you are taking care of the ball like that you don’t have to do a great job on the boards. That is going to give you a lot of shots.”

Despite cooling off from 3-point range – going 3-for-14 in the second half – South Warren stayed in control, with Allen County-Scottsville unable to cut the deficit lower than 20.

Four Spartans finished in double figures. Pierce and Amaya Lasley led the way with 17 points each. Sarah Dennison finished with 15 points, while Peyton Ferry added 14 points.

“I think we really enjoyed ourselves,” Pierce said. “Coach said that when we press we play a lot better than we normally do. I think (the big start) really pushed us along the rest of the game.”

Sutton led the way for the Lady Patriots with 23 points and 13 rebounds, while Mason Towery added 11 points. ACS shot 33.3 percent from the field, 45.5 percent in the second half.

“A lot of credit goes to South Warren,” Bonds said. “I have never seen a basketball team shoot the basketball as well as they did in the first quarter tonight. We could have very easily tucked our heads and said pity on us and got beat by 50 because that was the momentum, but our kids battled and they clawed and they fought.”

ACSHS 3 15 15 12 – 45

SWHS 23 19 12 19 – 73

ACS – Sutton 23, Towery 11, Cook 5, Mutter 2, Woods 2, Cook 2.

SW – Pierce 17, Lasley 17, Dennison 15, Ferry 14, Stevenson 5, Parrish 2, Weaver 2, Steele 1.

Allen County-Scottsville 63, South Warren 30, boys

The Patriots shot 65 percent from the field and held the Spartans to 25.6 percent from the field to win Nick Chaykowsky’s debut as ACS head coach. It was ACS’s first season-opening win since 2011.

Allen County-Scottsville (1-0) never trailed, scoring the first 10 points and building a 29-17 halftime advantage. The Patriots put the game away with an 18-0 second-half run, leading by as many as 37 points.

“I felt like we needed to dictate the way the game was played – being patient and putting the ball inside,” Chaykowsky said. “I saw multiple times where the ball went inside and went back out and we were successful. Our guard play was solid. Our senior leadership was solid. Overall our intensity from horn to horn was tremendous and defensively we played a tremendous game.”

Brett Rippy led the way for Allen County-Scottsville with 22 points, while Caydon Ross added 13 points.

Tyler Martin led South Warren (0-1) with nine points.

ASCHS 15 14 20 14 – 63

SWHS 7 10 5 8 – 30

ACS – Rippy 22, Ross 13, B. Carter 9, M. Carter 8, Clarke 6, Carver 2, Stamper 2, Ward 1.

SW – Martin 9, C. Moore 8, Haggerty 5, D. Moore 5, Lewis 3.{&end}