ADNA — There are always unknowns heading into a season opener. That was no different for Adna coach Chris Bannish as his Pirates took the floor for the first time this season on Wednesday with plenty of new faces against Mark Morris.
It didn’t take long for Adna to establish itself, though, as the Pirates scored the first 17 points of the game to take a commanding lead.
“We kicked them down right away,” Bannish said. “I’m very proud of them.”
The rest of the game wasn’t as smooth, but Adna was able to maintain its lead and roll to a 49-36 victory to begin the season 1-0.
“We were able to get it done,” Bannish said.
Alyssa Carroll kickstarted the early run by scoring the game’s first seven points, and after a McKenna Torry bucket, Rhylee Beebe scored eight straight, including a pair of threes. The Monarchs finally ended the run with a three-pointer six and a half minutes in.
As the Pirates ran into foul trouble in the second and third quarters, the offense began to slow down. After just eight points in the second quarter, they scored just five in the first four-plus minutes of the third.
The defense continued to hound Mark Morris, though, and the Monarchs couldn’t take advantage and never got closer than 12 points.
“It got ugly for a little bit,” Bannish said. “But it’s gonna be ugly for a little bit until we can get all of our sets and those quick hitters in.”
Beebe finished with a game-high 17 points, while Carroll and Torrey both scored 14.
Bannish credited Beebe and Carroll for playing off of each other, something he said that the team will need more of throughout the year, and he also applauded Carroll for her effort in the post.
“We’re gonna play through those posts more than we ever have,” Bannish said.
Kamryn Freeman and Emma Kissner both added two points to round out the Adna scoresheet.
Elsewhere on the floor, Carroll added 10 rebounds, Torrey added six, and Beebe nabbed six steals.
Ava Humphrey finished with five points, three assists, and a steal.
“(Ava) is doing a good job of leading,” Bannish said. “There's a lot of little, subtle things that she does.”
Defensively, the Pirates tallied 16 steals as a team, and they held the Monarchs to a clip of just 29 percent from the field.
It’s a group that Bannish expects to take plenty of time to get.
Gone are Danika Hallom, Gaby Guard, Karsyn Freeman, and Kendall Humphrey, and Bailey Chapman is also not playing this season.
Carroll, Humphrey, and Torrey were all on last year’s team, but Beebe and Madi Otten are now in the mix as well as Emma Kissner.
“I love what I have,” Bannish said. “They want to be good … These kids have put a lot of time in, they all went and did the extra things that make me want to coach them.”
Bannish also isn’t shying away from testing them early and often.
Among Adna’s non-league slate includes a trip to Annie Wright on Saturday and future matchups against Tumwater, Enumclaw, Cascade Christsian, Kelso, Hoquiam, Neah Bay, Montesano, and Cle Elum-Roslyn, and that doesn’t even include the usual loaded C2BL slate.
“It’s not an easy schedule,” Bannish said. “I expect us to have our lumps. At the same token, we’re trying to prepare them for districts. Our league across the board is better than it’s been in a little while. All these league games aren’t gonna be gimmes.
“But now we have a baseline,” Bannish added. “We go to the film, and then we get better.”
