A strong defensive performance from Wilmot helped give the Wolves a 70-10 victory over the Aberdeen Christian Knights.

Addison Heinje and Mya Heinje combined for 23 steals in the contest, which led to 32 points for the Wolves in the non-conference girls’ basketball win at the Christian School Gym.

“Addison and Mya Heinje are kind of our spark plugs,” said Wilmot coach Shelley Ammann. “They start everything off and once they start getting steals, it seems like the whole team just kind of follows along.”

The Heinje sisters proved to be tough for a Knights squad that is young and developing.

“It was tough. It was those two girls up top. Once you got by those two girls up top, then it was fine. They’re two very good players,” said Knights coach Andre’ Cobbs, before talking about his own players. “This is their first time out on the court. And a lot of them haven’t had their time to develop yet, so it’s tough. They’re learning through the fire.”

Not only is the Knights squad young, but they were without their point guard on the night, Jolie Fogarty, and a couple other key players due to illness, which forced others to step into roles they usually don’t play.

“We were missing our point guard, so we had to bring in somebody that’s not a point guard to play point guard,” said Cobbs. “A lot of the other girls that were coming in were eighth graders, seventh graders. That’s literally just what we have. Especially when the girls that are sick were sick, so our main sub was sick, our point guard was sick. That’s a tough show.”

One player that stepped into her role was Sophia Eichler, who scored 6 of her team’s 10 points on the night, while also bringing in a game-high 10 rebounds.

“It felt pretty good. … I don’t know, I was just trying to make something happen,” said Eichler. “It’s definitely hard when people are so far ahead of you, it’s hard to keep going, but I don’t know. I just keep playing.”

Wilmot opened up a 22-4 lead by the end of the first quarter and the chemistry between the Heinje sisters on the court was evident from the get-go.

“They know where each other is on the floor. It’s just fun to watch them,” Ammann said. “They just, you know, the sister thing.”

Often times, one sister would steal the ball, and find the other at the basket for fast-break points.

“I just look at her,” Addison Heinje said. “When I see she has the ball, I run.”

Mya Heinje said the two work well together.

“We can run together and then pass it off maybe if one of us gets stuck,” Mya said, “so it works well.”

Although the Heinje sisters can cause problems for foes, Ammann focuses on getting the whole team involved. Jada Cameron contributed 17 points, 12 of them coming on four 3-pointers.

“This year, it wasn’t all about Addison. I wanted to create a team atmosphere, and I think I’m so far successful with that,” said Ammann. “Jada’s coming out and she’s hitting 10 points, 15, 20 points a game, too. So that helps quite a bit.”

And the sisters know the importance of working together as a team as well.

“Oh, it’s great,” Mya said. “We’re working great together as a team this year.”

Addison said her teammates are making major contributions.

“Yeah, everybody else has been a big part of it, too,” Addison said. “Just getting it into the posts and getting kickouts, it’s been really good.”

At times, the Knights showed they could get the ball to the hoop, which provides a positive outlook for the future.

“Really happy with what they were doing at times, what they were supposed to. Might have been slow and there might have been a turnover trying to make a pass when the play was there, but they got to it too late,” said Cobbs. “That was a tough one, but I continue to see stuff that shows that they can get to a point.”

Eichler, too, has a positive outlook for the Knights.

“I think we’re young and we don’t have a lot of experience under our belt. But I feel like I’m confident in our team,” Eichler said. “Like you can see a lot of us really wanna work hard and get some wins and do better. So, I’m confident.”

The Knights are back in action tonight on the road against Sunshine Bible Academy while Wilmot will host Ortonville, Minn. on Monday.

WILMOT (7-9): Addison Heinje 13 5-8 32, Mya Heinje 5 0-2 10, Jada Cameron 6 1-2 17, Lorn Harstad 2 2-2 6, Emily Metz 2 1-2 5. Totals 28 9-16 70.

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (0-12): Sophia Eicher 2 2-3 6, Eri Cobbs 1 0-0 2, Lucy Jones 0 2-2 2. Totals 3 4-5 10.

Wilmot 22 43 57 70

Aberdeen Christian 4 6 6 10

3-point field goals – A. Heinje, Cameron 4. Total fouls – Aberdeen Christian 13. Rebounds – Wilmot 33 (A. Heinje 10); Aberdeen Christian 21 (Eichler 10). Turnovers – Wilmot 8; Aberdeen Christian 30. Assists – Wilmot 17 (M. Heinje 7). Steals – Wilmot 26 (M. Heinje 12); Aberdeen Christian 4 (Shakinah Holsing 2). Blocks – Aberdeen Christian 4 (Erika Moulsoff 2).