WARNER – The Warner Monarchs pushed the pace, pounded the ball inside, and produced one turnover after another on Tuesday night.

The Monarchs hounded Aberdeen Christian from the opening whistle and claimed a 54-9 Lake Region Conference girls’ basketball victory.

“We’ve got a lot of quick young girls that like to play like that, so it worked to our advantage tonight,” said Warner coach Tina Winter. “They got a lot of turnovers and converted into a lot of points which is nice, too.”

The Monarchs forced 10 turnovers in the opening quarter to help fuel a 21-4 lead, and then forced 10 more turnovers in the second quarter as their lead swelled to 35-4 at the half.

Christian coach Andre Cobbs said his young and inexperienced players weren’t quite prepared for that type of defensive intensity.

“We told them it was going to be tough and told them you’re going to get pressured right away,” Cobbs said, “they just probably weren’t mentally ready for that.”

The Monarchs had a plan of coming in and setting the tone on defense and it worked to perfection as the hosts quickly took control.

“Just starting off strong with pressing, trying to just get up in their face, throw them off a little bit,” said Warner’s Stacia Carda. “I feel like that worked well right away.”

Carda was a presence inside as Warner broke the game open, scoring 12 first-quarter points. That was also according to script.

“That’s kind of what we’re looking for her to do this season,” Winter said, “is when she’s got the shot to take it and if it’s not there, she’s doing a good job of getting it out to our shooters on the outside, too.”

The Knights focused on stopping the senior center, but had a difficult time doing it.

“We talked about her. That was main person that we needed to stop. That was the main person we needed to have an eye on,” Cobbs said. “We need to stop her from getting in the middle, and then boxing out. It just didn’t happen.”

Carda finished with a game-high 20 points, which included a 6-for-6 performance from the free-throw stripe.

“I practice them a lot out of season and everything,” Carda said. “I’ve always shot free throws. It’s an easy thing to practice.”

However, it was Warner’s pressure defense that prevented the Knights from getting into any sort of offensive flow throughout the contest.

“We have lots of newer girls,” said Christian’s Jolie Fogarty, “and they’re just not used to that fast paced of a game.”

As a result, the Knights barely scratched the surface on running any plays, because the Monarchs were hounding ballhandlers out front.

“We definitely need to condition more and figure out how to run our plays better,” Fogarty said, “because we didn’t really run much tonight.”

Of course, that was the result of Warner’s relentless defense that eventually produced a total of 33 turnovers.

“We also need to work on our ballhandling,” Fogarty said, “because we just couldn’t handle the pressure that they were giving us.”

Both teams are trying to figure out new roles this season as their squads look much differently than a year ago.

“I’d say definitely from first game to second game, even third game, there’s been a lot of adjustments made,” Carda said. “First game it was a little rocky start, but I feel like we’re better figuring out how to play with each other, learning just how to play with other people.”

The Knights also are trying to piece together nearly a whole new squad.

“A lot of them haven’t been playing in the spots they’re playing, the way they’re playing and with this group,” Cobbs said. “You really got to know each other in a basketball game, especially when you’re under pressure.”

Courtney Leidholt added 11 points to the Warner total.

The Monarchs also dominated the rebounding category, which has been a point of emphasis since a season-opening setback last weekend.

“That’s something that we told them the last couple of days is rebounding is kind of going to make us or break us,” Winter said, “and I think they saw that in the first game and how it really affected the score.”

Christian will play host to Leola-Frederick on Thursday at the Aberdeen Civic Arena.

Cobbs knows that his team has things to work on, but looked at the positive side following his team’s first contest of the season.

“I don’t think there’s anything that they need to do though that they can’t do,” Cobbs said.

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (0-1): Jolie Fogarty 2 0-0 4, Sophia Eichler 1 1-6 3, Shakinah Holsing 1 0-0 2. Totals 4 1-6 9.

WARNER (2-1): Jordyn Jensen 1 0-0 2, Courtney Leidholt 5 0-0 11, Jaycee Jung 2 0-0 5, Kenna Leidholt 3 0-0 6, Stacia Carda 7 6-6 20, Addy Heinrich 1 0-0 2, Kaydee Mackner 1 2-2 4, Miah Leidholt 2 0-0 4. Totals 22 8-8 54.

Aberdeen Christian 4 4 6 9

Warner 21 35 41 54

3-point field goals – C. Leidholt, Jung. Total fouls – Aberdeen Christian 7; Warner 10. Rebounds – Aberdeen Christian 17 (Eichler 5, Erika Moulshoff 5); Warner 30 (Tatum Hanson 6, Jung 5, Jensen 5). Turnovers – Aberdeen Christian 33; Warner 7.