Steady improvement is something Shakamak Coach Brock Dowell hopes to see from his young squad in the first part of the season.

Though the Lady Lakers came up short in their high school basketball home opener against West Vigo on Thursday night, 48-28, he saw some positives.

“I thought offensively in the first half, we did a good job of generating good looks and knocking them down,” Dowell said.

But too many offensive rebounds by the Lady Vikings hurt Shakamak like it did against Rivet.

“Again, offensive rebounding hurt us, so we will look to find ways we can better ourselves in that area,” Dowell stressed.

Shakamak stayed within striking distance for the first half, trailing 33-21 at the break. But the Lady Lakers struggled offensively in the second half, scoring no points in the third quarter and seven in the fourth.

“The turning point in this game was the third quarter,” Dowell said.

Emmalyn Wolf led Shakamak in scoring with nine points. Mattilyn Hill contributed eight points and four rebounds, Kaylee Calvert had seven points, three rebounds and three assists, and Kayden Murdock and Jacelynn Coffey both had four rebounds each.

Eight of Shakamak’s varsity roster are freshmen this year, and Murdock and Hill are the only seniors. Dowell knows it could take time for his young team to jell.

“I thought there was improvement from Tuesday night to (Thursday) across the board. I liked our energy off the bench,” Dowell said.

“I thought Destinee Miller and Kayden Murdock did a pretty good job on the defensive end. We will continue to keep getting after it in practice and try to improve a little bit every day.”

Shakamak (0-2) will take part in a tournament Saturday at North Putnam. The Lady Lakers will play Covenant Christian (1-0) at 10 a.m.

They will then play either Riverton Parke or North Putnam at 1 p.m.