With their path to the basket blocked, the Warner Monarchs found another way to put the ball in the hoop.

Warner nailed nine 3-pointers to help pave the way to a 60-25 Lake Region Conference girls’ basketball win over Aberdeen Christian at the Civic Arena Tuesday night.

“The girls really stepped up, which we want them to shoot from out there. We’ve never told them not to,” said Warner coach Tina Winter. “The way that they were running the offense tonight, it allowed them open shots to take. … We missed almost as many as we made, but I want them to keep shooting it if we’ve got them.”

Freshman Kaydee Mackner helped to set the tone early with 13 first-quarter points, including a pair of three-point field goals. She also added another trey in the final period and finished with a game-high 23 points.

“When they don’t close out very fast, it’s easy to take outside shots,” Mackner said.

Courtney Leidholt had a team-leading four 3-pointers to account for all of her 12 points, and Tatum Hanson also had one on the way to nine points.”

“The girls want to get the ball inside, because they want those easy baskets out there,” Winter said, “but it works because then our insides, when they know they don’t have it, they were ready to kick it out to whoever’s got the hot hand, and tonight it was all three of them.”

Those girls were all part of Warner’s state runner-up volleyball team last month. That experience of playing together helps in every sport, according to Mackner.

“Having played with each other for longer in multiple sports makes it easier,” she said, “getting to know each other better.”

The Knights hung with Warner during the early stages of the contest, but soon the offense dried up as Christian managed just two points in the second quarter.

“I think we need to play with more confidence,” said Christian junior Jolie Fogarty. “Molleigh (Hofer) and Jacey (Fogarty) were shooting great the first quarter.”

However, as the game wore one, the Knights wore down.

“We’re just really tired. We’re playing with no subs,” Joley Fogarty said. “We’re just not in that condition, yet. We’re trying to work on getting faster.”

The Knights were led inside by Ari Johnson, who finished with five blocked shots, but the Monarchs patiently worked for open shots on the perimeter and cashed in from there.

While suffering a double-digit setback, new Christian coach Matt Rohrbach saw positive things from his squad.

“What I told the girls … the things that we struggled with tonight are correctable. We didn’t have a crazy amount of turnovers, really it was just kind of losing girls when we were maybe not in our base defense,” Rohrbach said. “Those are things that are correctable and that’s exciting, because we showed in the first quarter we can compete.”

Warner, 3-0 on the season, hosts Aberdeen Roncalli on Thursday. Winter knows what to expect from the Cavaliers.

“I never expect an easy game from Roncalli at any point,” Winter said. “We told the girls they’re going to be physical, they’re going to be in their face, and they’re going to be fast and we gotta be ready for them.”

Christian has a road game against Leola-Frederick on Thursday, before facing Redfield at Roncalli on Saturday afternoon.

“We’re going to try and rebound and get some wins hopefully on Thursday and Saturday, and play better,” Joley Fogarty said.

Fogarty and Hofer each had seven points to lead the Knights.

Rohrbach believes that his players just need more time playing together and that the season will be a work in progress.

“I’m proud of our girls. I thought the effort was there,” Rohrbach said. “I think it kind of comes back to more and more reps. More reps in practice, more games, more experience. I think at the end of the season we’re going to be a completely different ball club.”

WARNER (3-0): Courtney Leidholt 4 0-0 12, Kaydee Mackner 8 3-5 23, Tatum Hanson 3 2-2 9, Kenna Leidholt 2 0-0 4, Brynn Hill 1 0-0 3, Olivia Marcuson 3 0-0 6, Miah Leidholt 0 3-4 3. Totals 21-51 9-11 60.

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (0-1): Jacie Fogarty 2 0-0 4, Ari Johnson 2 0-0 4, Jolie Fogarty 3 0-0 7, Molleigh Hofer 3 0-0 7, Sophia Eichler 1 1-2 3. Totals 11-37 1-2 25.

Warner 20 38 45 60

Aberdeen Christian 11 13 19 25

3-point field goals – C. Leidholt 4, Mackner 3, Hanson, Hill; Jolie Fogarty, Hofer. Total fouls – Warner 8; Aberdeen Christian 10. Rebounds – Warner 39 (Jaycee Jung 8); Aberdeen Christian 21 (Jolie Fogarty 9). Turnovers – Warner 12; Aberdeen Christian 20.