CONTESTED SHOT — Edison’s Lacie Pelley attempts a shot past defense from Weir’s Bella Weber during Thursday’s game. Pelley was one of nine players to score for the undefeated Wildcats in a 76-39 victory over the Red Riders. - Andrew Grimm

It showed against a much more youthful Weir High team on Thursday evening.

The Wildcats turned up the pressure early and often and rattled off a 23-0 first quarter run to take control and never looked back, cruising to a 76-39 victory over the Red Riders inside the Carl Hamill Fieldhouse.

The Wildcats forced Weir into 30 turnovers, half of them in the first quarter as Edison put up 34 points in the opening eight minutes, and got offensive contributions up and down the line up from nine different players on the way to improving to 6-0.

“We shot the ball well in the first quarter, we’ve kind of been waiting for that to happen all year,” Edison head coach Mark Smyth said. “We knew we had the girls that could do it. We like to play fast and get a lot of shots off and thankfully in the first quarter they were going in for us.

FOR THREE — Edison’s Abby Boka shoots one of her three 3-pointers over Weir’s Bella Weber on Thursday. - Andrew Grimm

“Weir is very athletic, coach Stead does a great job. We had seen them on film and we knew they had some athletes. We wanted to jump on them early.”

Four of those scorers reached double figures and two more were close as Abby Boka netted 15 points, four assists, two steals and a rebound, Lacie Pelley tallied 12 points with two assists and a steal, Abby Carpenter finished with 12 points, three assists, two rebounds and two steals and Sophia Henderson tallied 14 points, four rebounds and three steals. Mimi Ault tallied eight points and a game-high eight rebounds with two steals and Aliyah Glover netted eight points, three steals, two rebounds and two assists off the bench.

All 18 girls dressed for Edison got in the game at some point, and there wasn’t much fall off when they subbed. The Wildcats also knocked down eight 3-pointers, led by three from Boka.

“We played everyone, even in the JV game all of our girls scored, a lot of different girls scored in the varsity game, it was up and down the line up,” Smyth said. “Hopefully we can shoot the ball like that more often. It’s nice to get everyone in the game, we have a solid group throughout. Our young kids have been very competitive with everyone they’ve played, our freshmen only lost one game in middle school and our sophomores won the BMC (when they were in middle school), so we’re stacking some good classes together.

“We’re happy with where we’re at, but there’s still room to get better. We’re going to keep working and taking steps toward where we want to be.”

Edison’s Abby Carpenter attempts to shoot over Weir’s Gianna Siegal. - Andrew Grimm

For the Red Riders, it was simply a matter of not being able to handle the pressure and speed of the more experienced visitors. After Weir (1-3) got within 9-5 midway through the opening quarter after Edison had opened with the first seven points, the Wildcats caught fire and went on the 23-0 run.

It was 34-7 at the end of the first quarter and 54-18 at halftime.

Weir did play more even in the second half.

“They have a lot of seniors and they have played together for a long time,” Weir High head coach Rick Stead said of Edison. “They did a good job of coming out with a lot of intensity. We try to prepare ourselves for the press-break, but the bottom line is they did a great job and we have young kids … the game was sped up for them by the pressure and the inexperience showed. They made us play at a faster pace.

“The goal for us is to improve, be better at the end of the season. I think this group, if they can stick together and stick with it, has potential to be a special group, we have some athletes. It’s just a matter of them getting some experience and improving.

Edison’s Kayla Koehnlein works to the basket against Weir’s Alea White. - Andrew Grimm

“We have started with a really tough schedule against some really good basketball teams. Mark has a nice program and his kids are buying in to what he’s doing, they hustle 100 percent of the time. Give it time, I think our group can get there.”

A bright spot for Stead’s unit was freshman Ryann Jeter netting a game-high 20 points to go with four steals and three rebounds.

“She’s going to be an absolute monster as she gets older, she’s already really good,” Smyth said of Jeter.

UP NEXT

Edison: Hosts Toronto on Monday night.

Edison's Bella Cronin drives toawrds the basket - Andrew Grimm

Weir: Has another undefeated opponent on Saturday afternoon as Indian Creek comes to town.

Edison 76, Weir 39

E 34-20-14-6 — 76

W 7-11-10-11 — 39

EDISON (6-0): Boka 3 6-6 15; Pelley 5 0-0 12; Carpenter 4 4-5 12; Henderson 5 2-2 14; Ault 4 0-0 8; Glover 4 0-0 8; Koehnlein 1 0-0 2; A. Casto 0 0-0 0; Shepherd 0 0-0 0; Rawson 0 0-0 0; Cronin 0 0-0 0; King 0 0-0 0; Augilara 0 0-0 0; Wiedaman 0 0-0 0; Bassinger 0 0-0 0; Kireta 1 0-0 3; G. Casto 0 2-2 2. TOTALS: 27, 14-15; 76.

Weir High’s Ryann Jeter puts up a shot past Edison’s Sophia Henderson and Aliyah Glover. - Andrew Grimm

WEIR (1-3): Ascencio 3 2-4 8; Siegal 1 0-0 2; White 1 0-0 2; Weber 0 0-0 0; Jeter 5 10-13 20; Cooley 1 0-0 2; Jones 0 0-0 0; A. White 1 0-0 2; Clausell 0 0-0 0; Hans 0 0-0 0; Devore 1 0-0 3. TOTALS: 13, 12-17; 39.

3-POINTERS: Edison 8 (Boka 3, Pelley 2, Henderson 2, Kireta); Weir 1 (Devore). ASSISTS: Edison 14 (Boka 4); Weir 8 (A. White 2, Hans 2). REBOUNDS: Edison 29 (Ault 8); Weir 27 (Weber 6). STEALS: Edison 17 (Henderson 3, Glover 3, Rawson 3); Weir 11 (Jeter 4). BLOCKS: Edison 2 (Wiedaman, Carpenter); Weir 6 (A. White 5). TURNOVERS: Edison 17; Weir 30.