Aberdeen Roncalli showed both a willingness and an ability to play fast and loose literally from the opening tip of Tuesday night’s home opener against Mobridge-Pollock at the Roncalli Gym. The Cavaliers won the tip and immediately went on a fast break. Less than seven seconds later, Roncalli had a lead it never did relinquish en route to a 72-53 win over the Tigers to improve to 2-0 on the year.

“It was fun,” said Roncalli senior Olivia Hanson, who was a part of that opening break-out. “I love playing fast. And we do, as a team. We’re a team that likes to get up and down the court. We love playing that fast-paced game and pushing it as much as we can.”

That’s exactly how the opening quarter of play went. Mobridge-Pollock, despite being out-sized at nearly every position, trimmed Roncalli’s lead to a single point in the early going of the game, but three straight transition buckets pushed the Cavaliers’ lead back to 19-9 with just under three and a half minutes to play.

Hanson and fellow senior Morgan Fiedler were catalysts of more than a few of those transition opportunities, picking off turnovers on defense and turning them into points at the other end.

Roncalli led 24-9 at the first-quarter break, which proved to be an insurmountable lead for the Tigers.

Still, there are plenty of opportunities for improvement, said Roncalli coach Derek Larson.

“I don’t know if we gave up 53 points last year to (any) team,” Larson said. “(Mobridge-Pollock) is a good, quality basketball team. We gave up way too many opportunities at the rim, too many uncontested shots.”

Though pleased with his team’s ability to score in transition, Larson noted that things need to change in the defensive half-court for the Cavaliers to be successful in the long term.

“That’s not going to work to give up 53 points every night,” Larson said. “That’s going to be a loss a lot of nights, especially in our conference. We’ve just got to do a better job on that end.”

Olivia Hanson finished with 17 points to lead all scorers. Hanson was 11-for-13 from the line in that effort. Fiedler added 14 points, while Madalyn Bragg and Ella Hanson each totaled 13 points for the Cavaliers. Jeci Ewart finished with 11.

“We know we can score on the offensive end,” Larson said. “I think it all comes back to playing defense. We can’t just trade baskets. We’ve got to dig in and get some stops.”

Mobridge-Pollock got 14 points from Reagan Weisbeck, who hit three times from long range. Landyn Henderson tallied 16 points, aided by a 5-for-8 effort at the free throw line. Mariah Goehring finished with 10 points.

Roncalli plays host to Redfield on Thursday. Olivia Hanson acknowledged there are things to clean up for the Cavaliers before that contest tips off.

“Definitely just sitting down and working our girl defensively,” Hanson said. “Not giving up 53 points, but working hard on the defensive end. … That’s every game, though.”

Thursday’s contest is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Roncalli Gym.

MOBRIDGE-POLLOCK: Mariah Goehring 5 0-0 10, Reagan Weisbeck 5 1-1 14, Heidi Olson 1 0-0 2, Landyn Henderson 5 5-8 16, Emma Keller 1 0-0 3, Emily Hatzenbuhler 1 0-1 2, Madison Ross 1 0-0 2, Sophia Overland 0 0-1 0, Charley Henderson 2 0-0 4. Totals 21 6-11 53.

ABERDEEN RONCALLI: Madalyn Bragg 5 3-4 13, Allie Morgan 1 1-2 4, Morgan Fiedler 5 3-4 14, Jeci Ewart 5 0-0 11, Olivia Hanson 3 11-13 17, Ella Hanson 5 3-4 13. Totals 24 21-27 72.

Mobridge-Pollock 9 23 36 53

Aberdeen Roncalli 24 40 62 72

3-pt FG: Mobridge-Pollock 5 (Weisbeck 3, Henderson, Keller); Aberdeen Roncalli 3 (Morgan, Fiedler, Ewart). Fouls: Mobridge-Pollock 17; Aberdeen Roncalli 15. Fouled out: None.