SELBY – Aberdeen Roncalli picked up where it left off for the holiday break – with a win.

The Cavalier girls’ basketball program opened the post-holiday portion of the schedule with a 66-26 non-conference victory over Herreid-Selby Area Saturday afternoon.

It was a victory fueled by stringent defense and balanced scoring.

“We were really balanced,” said Roncalli coach Derek Larson. “I thought McKenna (O’Keefe) and Maddie Huber shot it better tonight. … Claire Crawford didn’t shoot it as well, but one thing we told her before the game, she’s guarding their best guard, and I thought she did a good job. The Allbee girl (Stephanie Albee) had, I think, just two points the whole night.”

Albee did, indeed, have just two points, those coming in the game’s opening quarter.

From there, Crawford was able to shut down the Wolverine guard. Roncalli also paid special attention to Herreid-Selby Area’s Jordyn Rossow, who, at over 6-feet tall, is a significant presence in the post.

“Big was important,” Larson said. “They have a 6-1 post player, and we don’t. We wanted to put an emphasis on being physical with her and having some backside help. I thought we did a good job with that.”

Of course, defense is easier to play when the offense is clicking. The Cavaliers had nine players in the scoring column, three of whom reached double figures. Ava Hanson led the way with 18 points, followed by O’Keefe with 13, and Huber with 11.

“It’s always nice when it’s not just one person scoring,” Larson said. “Everyone was distributing the ball. I thought we shared the ball really well today. I didn’t think we had many forced shots.“

Larson also noted his team was able to significantly limit its turnovers.

“I thought we did a really good job just valuing the basketball and seemed like we got a lot of quality shots on the offensive end,” Larson said.

The win comes on the heels of a long holiday break followed by just one rust-breaking practice. With a pair of contests later this upcoming week, Larson said he’s looking forward to getting his team back in the gym.

“It’ll be nice to get back to practice,” he said. “Having one practice and a game here, we haven’t had a lot of opportunity – even last week, we played on Saturday so it’s been kind of a long break for us. It’ll be nice to get back to practice and get back to some things we need to work on also.”

The Cavaliers, 3-1, will host Warner on Thursday and Webster on Saturday.

ABERDEEN RONCALLI (3-1): McKenna O’Keefe 5 1-1 13, Maddie Huber 4 1-2 11, Claire Crawford 1 0-0 2, Rylee Voeller 4 0-0 9, Ava Hanson 7 2-4 18, Kadince Glenn 1 3-3 5, Gabby Thomas 2 0-0 4, Karsyn Davis 1 0-0 2, Olivia Dix 1 0-0 2. Totals 26 7-10 66.

HERREID-SELBY AREA (0-4): Steph Allbee 1 0-0 2, Katie Allbee 3 0-4 8, Taryn Hettich 2 0-0 6, Jordyn Rossow 3 0-2 6. Totals 9 0-6 26.

Aberdeen Roncalli 22 41 54 66

Herreid-Selby Area 8 13 23 26

3-point field goals – Hanson 2, Voeller, Huber 2, O’Keefe 3, K. Allbee 2, Hettich 2. Total fouls – Aberdeen Roncalli 9; Herreid-Selby Area 9.