When Shakamak Coach Brock Dowell looked over his team’s statistics from its season opener Tuesday night at Vincennes Rivet, it didn’t take him long to figure out what happened.

The Lady Patriots had 16 offensive rebounds and forced the Lady Lakers into 20 turnovers. And those two things helped propel Rivet to a 64-15 girls high school basketball victory.

“Key factors in this game were rebounding, second-chance points and turnovers. Rivet did a really good job of crashing the glass and really just out-toughed us when it came to rebounding and crashing the glass,” Dowell explained.

“For the most part, I thought we handled the full-court pressure fairly well. It was when we got to the half court that we let their pressure speed us up.”

Rivet’s Allivia Stearns, a 5-foot, 11-inch senior, scored 18 of her game-high 26 points in the first half. That allowed her team to build a 35-6 lead at halftime.

Dowell said he was proud of the way his players continue to play hard.

“I thought we played with a much better effort compared to our scrimmage on Saturday (vs. North Knox). I didn’t think our girls quit when the game got out of hand,” Dowell explained.

“Our initial defense showed some improvement. We still have a lot of areas to improve on, such as our rotations, our footwork, and closeouts.”

Mattilyn Hill led Shakamak in scoring with eight points, Kaylee Calvert had four, Emmalyn Wolf added two, and Annabelle Ehle one.

“I thought Kaylee Calvert showed us a lot tonight. Defensively she was able to get her hands on some passes and did a good job of getting in the passing lanes,” Dowell said.

“I’m also proud of the way Hill and Emmalyn led tonight. In a game like this where the score gets out of hand, it’s easy to stop being engaged. I thought they both did a good job of picking up their teammates. We’ve got a lot of areas to improve in, but we’re going to continue to work hard and try to get a little better each day.”

Shakamak (0-1) will be back in action Thursday at home against West Vigo.