It was the season opener for the Wabash Valley College Lady Warriors, a new season for a new team with a new coach.

Unfortunately, the Lady Warriors came up on the short end of a 93-57 score against Jefferson College of Hillsboro, Mo.

"I saw some things out of the girls that came here," said new coach Zach Loll.

"One of the things we're definitely going to have to work on is our defense, our rotation. We're sloppy. That's something we work on every day; we're got to get better at it," he added.

For the first few minutes, the Lady Warriors stayed fairly even with the Vikings. They were down by four, 11-7, after Danielle Dixon hit a free throw with 13:08 to play. Although Wabash Valley never led, they Lady Warriors got to within five on two occasions. Dixon hit another free throw with 9:35 to play in the half, making it 18-13. The Vikings pulled away, but once more the Lady Warriors rallied. When Kira Carter hit a three-pointer from the right wing, with 3:52 to go in the half, Wabash Valley was down only 32-27.

But Jefferson, the nation's second-ranked team, went on a 13-2 run to close out the half and take a 45-29 lead at the intermission.

The second half was all Jefferson. The Vikings took a 20-point lead less than two minutes into the second half and cruised from there.

Loll said the Vikings were able to push the Lady Warriors out of the way and grab the rebounds, and the Wabash Valley transition defense "was poor."

"We got down early, we fought, we got back into it. It was 32-27, then we let them go on a run in the first half; I was disappointed in that," he said. "We didn't compete and try to get the runs stopped. The second half we were trying to play catch-up. We just let them do what they wanted to offensively."

"Its the first game. We're trying to get adjusted," he added.

"That's a good ballclub we played; they're Number Two in the country for a reason. It just shows our girls what it's going to take to compete at that level," Loll said.

"This is a good game for us - it shows us what we've got to work on and exposed things that we've got to get better at if we want to compete and be a team in the Great Rivers Athletic Conference that's going to compete and be good," he said.

Wabash Valley hit only 19 of 52 shots from the floor, 36.5 percent, and only four of 15 from three-point range, 26.7 percent. The Lady Warriors were 15 of 24 at the line for 62.5 percent.

Carter had 13 to lead Wabash Valley while Dixon added 11.

Jefferson hit 30 of 66 overall from the floor, 45.5 percent, and went seven of 20 from three-point range for 35 percent. The Vikings were 25 of 36 at the line for 69.4 percent.

Porsha Porter led Jefferson with 23. ShaQuanda Wiggins added 18, Alisha Goodwin scored 14, Ashley Brown had 11 and Joyce Holloway hit 10.

Jefferson out-rebounded Wabash Valley, 39-31. Johnesha Maybell pulled down seven for the Lady Warriors with Tara Nidey and Carter each grabbing six.

The Lady Warriors turned the ball over 26 times to Jefferson's, 12. Jefferson had 15 steals to Wabash Valley's six.

BOX SCORE

Jefferson: Goodwin, 5-1-1--14; Porter, 4-3-6--23; Bicane, 0-0-3--3; Scurlock, 0-0-0--0; Klinstone, 0-2-0--6; Brown, 3-1-2--11; Holloway, 2-0-6--10; Wiggins, 5-0-8--18; Dunn, 4-0-0--8; Totals, 23-7-26--93

Wabash Valley: Acree, 0-0-1--1; Nidey, 2-1-0--7; LaRue, 1-0-7--9; Davis, 0-0-0--0; Jackson, 0-0-1--1; Washington, 3-0-0--6; Carter, 3-2-1--13; Foster, 0-0-0--0; Bentley, 3-1-0--9; Fewkes, 0-0-0--0; Dixon, 3-0-5--11; Maybell, 0-0-0--0; Totals, 15-4-15--57

Fouled out: Wabash Valley - Jackson