Patience turned into productivity for Wolsey-Wessington at the Aberdeen Civic Arena Tuesday night.

The Warbirds moved the ball around, got multiple people involved in the offense and grabbed a 51-16 non-conference girls’ basketball win over Aberdeen Christian.

“I think we’ve got a good well-balanced team. I think we’ve got multiple girls that can put up double digits,” said Wolsey-Wessington coach Josh McGillvrey. “They understand that. They know that and when you have good ball movement, that’s where you’re able to see a lot of that come together.”

The Warbirds scored the first 14 points of the game and were never in trouble after that. The slow start is theme all too common for the Knights this season.

“It’s hard to get back from 14-0 at this level,” said Christian coach Andre Cobbs. “We’re not hitting threes. There’s not a ton of down, back and forth, so we’ve got to start doing our offense from the start.”

While the Warbirds received points from six different players in the opening half, it was Shae Uttecht that helped to set the tone with a trio of 3-pointers.

“It’s really easy to get open shots with ball movement,” Uttecht said, “and we’ve been doing really good about that as a team.”

Wolsey-Wessington did not force a lot of shots against Christian, instead making extra passes to find open teammates for high-percentage shots.

“We’re definitely trying to get more open looks rather than contested shots,” Uttecht said, “so I feel like ball movement was a big thing for us, so we did really good at that tonight.”

Of course, when shots fall early, like they did in the first quarter for the Warbirds, it takes some of the pressure off.

“It definltey makes a difference, especially in girls’ basketball,” McGillvrey said, “if they can get their first one or two to go down, things seem to go really well for them throughout the game.”

The coach said his young squad has struggled with passing in the early part of the season, but made strides in that area against the Knights.

“We talked about it, this is going to be good game for us to really work on things that we’ve got to get better throughout the season here,” McGillvrey said. “I thought they did do a good job.”

The Knights never quit, scoring nearly half their points in the final period despite being down by more than 30 points.

“That’s the one thing I love about this group,” Cobbs said. “They can be down 30 and they don’t stop.”

Sophia Eichler scored all of her points in the fourth quarter, trying to make things happen on offense.

“Honestly, I was just getting a little frustrated,” Eichler said, “and I was ready to put up some points and draw fouls.”

Eichler also led the team in rebounds. She talked about her rebounding strategy.

“I try and get in there and just crash the board,” Eichler said, “put my body on a girl and just do my best.”

Uttecht had a game-high 16 points to lead Wolsey-Wessington. Maria Nelson and Taylor Eichstadt each had eight, Kendal Uttecht followed with seven, and Kenli Hooks finished with six.

Meanwhile, the Warbirds allowed just four total baskets on defense.

“We were really trying to be aggressive on defense when we could,” said Shae Uttecht, “and I feel like we did a really good job about communicating.”

Jolie Fogarty had 10 points for Christian. The Knights, 0-7, play at Potter County on Thursday.

Cobbs said the Knights continue to grow and learn with each game.

“It’s a growing process. It doesn’t happen over night,” Cobbs said. “You added Aaron Rodgers to the Jets and they didn’t get good over night, right? So, it’s going to take a little bit of work.”

WOLSEY-WESSINGTON (3-5): Maria Nelson 4 0-0 8, Shae Uttecht 6 1-2 16, Kendal Uttecht 3 0-0 7, Kenli Hooks 3 0-0 6, Taylor Eichstadt 2 2-2 8, Raya Toupal 1 2-2 4, Payton Peterson 1 0-0 2. Totals 20 5-6 51.

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (0-7): Jolie Fogarty 2 6-11 10, Sophia Eichler 1 2-5 4, Shakinah Holsing 1 0-0 2. Totals 4 8-16 16.

Wolsey-Wessington 17 35 48 51

Aberdeen Christian 4 7 9 16

3-point field goals – S. Uttecht 3, K. Uttecht, Eichstadt 2. Total fouls – Wolsey-Wessington 15; Aberdeen Christian 7. Rebounds – Wolsey-Wessington 31 (K. Uttecht 8, Nelson 8); Aberdeen Christian 28 (Holsing 7, Eicher 7). Turnovers – Wolsey-Wessington 13; Aberdeen Christian 29.