Ryan Ladika/MDN Maya Vibeto, 10, dribbles back into the Knights’ offensive end during the first half Thursday night.

Maya Vibeto stepped back behind the arc and let loose a try that was greeted only by the subtle swish of the net, and the Knights were off and running early on.

The sophomore’s first of two triples on the night factored into a dominant game-opening 15-2 first quarter for her squad during the season-opener for the Our Redeemer’s Knights (1-0) against the Rolette Comets (0-2), a matchup Our Redeemer’s cruised through by a 52-23 final score at home Thursday evening.

“It’s so exciting. We had a lot of nerves coming in, but they were exciting nerves,” Emily Brugman said. “So just to come in and get the first win of the season under our belt, I think we all have a super great attitude now for the rest of our season and I can’t wait to see what it holds for us.”

Vibeto and Brugman combined for the first four points of the night for the home five, and the Comets’ Sierra Heinz then halved Rolette’s deficit with two of her own.

Heinz’s score would be the last Our Redeemer’s allowed in the opening eight minutes of play as the Knights’ defense clamped down and Vibeto, Elise Altringer and Meadow Roberts tallied the final 11 points of the first quarter.

“We knew who we had to guard. They had a couple girls and we just locked down on them and played help-side, and our girls did a good job of boxing out,” Knights head coach Scott Peterson added. “They did what we wanted to do. They played our gameplan to a ‘T.'”

Kadyn Braun finished a layup and added two more successful tries from the charity stripe to lead Our Redeemer’s with four points in the second quarter, and Vibeto’s nine first-quarter points paced her team throughout the first half to help the Knights to a 29-12 halftime lead. Rolette’s Eva Tastad notched a team-leading four points in the second frame on four free throws as well.

“Personally, I thought that we were kind of trying to still get into our rhythm,” Brugman said of the team’s impressive first quarter. “But then once we got going and we settled into our groove, it was so comfortable out there and we were really excited, and we know that’s how we have to start every game for the rest of our season.”

The Comets gained a bit of offensive traction on the other end of the halftime break, rattling off a 6-4 run on the strength of two Morgan Casavant free throws and contributions from Heinz, Alex Kraft and Hailey Peltier.

Roberts and Aubrey Griedl aided the Knights take the momentum back down the stretch, combining for five points and helping close the Comets out by a 52-23 final score.

Vibeto racked up a team-leading 12 points on the evening followed closely by Roberts’ nine and seven points from Brugman, Griedl and Braun. Peltier’s six points paced the Comets and Tastad and Heinz each recorded four.

“We’ve been working a lot on defense this year; it’s one of our main goals as well as conditioning,” Vibeto said. “Our team has just been working hard all day in practice and just came out with a win.”

The Knights and Comets will both have three days off before their respective next games scheduled for Dec. 6 at the Nedrose Invitational Tournament hosted by the Cardinals.