AGENCY VILLAGE – After back-to-back nail biters last week, Aberdeen Roncalli took all the suspense out of its lastest contest, leading from wire to wire in a 65-31 girls’ basketball win over Tiospa Zina Monday night.

The top-rated Cavaliers got out in transition early and improved to 12-1 on the season with the Northeast Conference victory.

“I thought we did a pretty good job of pushing the basketball tonight,” said Roncalli coach Derek Larson. “We scored some points in transition. We got out and had some turnovers created on the defensive end we converted off of.”

Morgan Fiedler got the Cavaliers going in the opening quarter when her defense lead to offense. She scored six points in a 16-5 first-quarter run.

“Fiedler definitely got some stuff going defensively. She converted some of those defensive stops into transition baskets for her,” Larson said. “Her being so fast, it’s hard to stop her in transition.”

Roncalli also got the ball inside to 6-foot-2 center Madelyn Bragg, who scored a dozen first half points and ended up getting Tiospa Zina center Kennadee Bissonette into foul trouble in the process.

“Madi got the Bissonette girl in foul trouble in the second quarter. She had four fouls in the second quarter,” Larson said. “That paid dividends for us to get the ball inside.”

Bissonette still finished with a game-high 18 points to lead the Wambdi.

“She did a better job staying out of foul trouble. They went to her a lot in the post,” Larson said. “It didn’t really matter who we had on her, whether it was Madi or anyone else. It seemed like they put a big emphasis on getting the ball inside and she had a good game.”

Fiedler led a balanced Roncalli attack with 17 points and Bragg followed with 14. Olivia Hanson and Ella Hanson each finished with eight, and Allie Morgan added six.

“Allie was 2-for-2 from three. She shot the ball well with a lot of confidence and happened to get good looks,” Larson said. “Ella did a good job of relieving Madi. She made some pretty good post moves to score when she was in.”

The Cavaliers have a demanding schedule ahead, which includes two more games this week, one against Class A second-rated West Central at the NEC-Dak XII Clash in Madison on Saturday.

First up is another conference matchup against Clark-Willow Lake at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Roncalli Gym as part of a girls-boys doubleheader.

“We knew that going in, the back half of our schedule is really tough,” Larson said. “We have Clark on Thursday. They’re always a tough one to play.”

ABERDEEN RONCALLI (12-1): Madelyn Bragg 5 4-4 14, Allie Morgan 2 0-0 6, Morgan Fiedler 8 0-1 17, Jeci Ewart 1 0-0 2, Olivia Hanson 4 0-0 8, Ella Hanson 4 0-0 8, Ilima Mounga 1 1-2 4, Ava Hanson 2 0-0 4, Madison Martin 1 0-0 2. Totals 28 5-7 65.

TIOSPA ZINA (2-13): Jaia Bursheim 2 1-2 6, Alexia Quinn 1 0-0 2, Hannah Ziegler 1 0-0 2, Kennadee Bissonette 6 5-8 18, Latice Rodlund 1 0-0 3. Totals 11 6-10 31.

Aberdeen Roncalli 16 37 52 65

Tiospa Zina 5 14 24 31

3-point field goals – Morgan 2, Fiedler, Mounga; Bursheim, Bissonette, Rodlund. Total fouls – Aberdeen Roncalli 11; Tiospa Zina 11.