Aberdeen Christian held its own early, before a group of Mustangs broke free Saturday afternoon at the Christian School Gym.

Waubay-Summit got out in transition to build a double-digit lead on the way to a 58-24 non-conference girls’ basketball victory over the Knights.

The Mustangs, 5-1 on the season, scored numerous transition baskets, and featured a balanced scoring attack to help fuel the win.

“If you look at our box score, we had 10 different girls score tonight,” said Waubay-Summit coach Caleb DeKam. “That’s a testament to everyone being unselfish and cutting.”

The visitors often turned down good shots for better ones to steadily build a lead throughout the contest.

“All of our starters scored and it just feeds into the bench, and it’s just a mindset and a culture thing,” DeKam said. “I really appreciate the girls for the way they take care of the ball and they share it like that.”

The score was tied 6-6 midway through the first quarter when the Mustangs went on 13-0 surge to take control. Caley Boik scored eight points during the pivotal streak, many coming on transition baskets.

“I was in the right position at the right time,” Boik said, “and I just took it and went with it.”

While the Knights have yet to record their first win of the season, Boik said her team was not about the take anything for granted.

“You can never go into a game thinking you’re just going to be able to beat them,” Boik said. “You just have to go in, play your heart out, and hope it works out.”

The Knights were consistently able to work the ball inside for high-percentage shots and were not intimidated by the Mustangs.

“I think our team is just getting more aggressive and more of a fight in us,” said Christian’s Sophia Eichler. “I think we probably want it more. We’re starting to work together more.”

The progress that the squad has made is evident to Christian coach Matt Rohrbach, who noted that the players are figuring out where to attack on the court.

“I was super happy. I thought that action-wise offensively, we actually knew what we were doing, and that’s not always been a given in the past,” Rohrbach said. “We knew what we were doing, I wasn’t having to call stuff out. We’re kind of locked into how each other’s going to play.”

When it appeared that the game might reach a running clock early in the third quarter, the Knights trimmed a 28-point deficit down to a 20-point margin.

“Those girls work really hard,” DeKam said. “They’ve got no seniors on that roster. I mean they care.”

In the end though, Waubay-Summit has a potent roster led by all-stater Addison Heinje, who finished the game with 17 points, eight rebounds, a pair of blocked shots, and a floor game that helped the Mustangs to move and share the basketball.

“That’s a testament to Addison. Addison’s so unselfish and that just kind of feeds into the whole team, too,” DeKam said. “They want to cut. They don’t want to settle for 3’s, and they want to get layups. We want to get out in transition, too. I thought we did a good job of passing it up ahead and not dribbling.”

Boik, who finished with 14 points, said that playing as a complete team is a big priority for the Mustangs.

“It’s a mindset. We all want to work as a team,” Boik said. “We all feel that we should take the best shot that is available, not just the first shot.”

Jolie Fogarty led Christian with 10 points. Eichler added seven points and six rebounds.

While the team has yet to win a game, Eichler said the emphasis is not on the scoreboard, but on improving each game.

“I think for us, just not looking at the wins,” Eichler said, “and just looking at how we’re playing, and just not the scoreboard … not focusing on losses and just our aggression and playing as a team.”

Both teams have busy weeks ahead. The Mustangs have matchups with Webster, Ipswich, and Arlington.

“It gets really interesting, really fast,” DeKam said.

Christian plays at Wolsey-Wessington on Tuesday, before hosting Gettysburg on Thursday.

Rohrbach said things continue to progress for his team.

“The last thing for us right now is to understand the last third of basketball,” Rohrbach said. “The first two thirds is the action and getting to the spots that we want to get to. Now we’re just kind of missing, do I pass it here, or do I finish it here? Where do I finish, how do I finish? We’re just missing that last third.”

WAUBAY-SUMMIT (5-1): Peyton Rumpza 2 2-2 6, Addison Heinje 6 5-6 17, Liza Purdy 2 2-2 6, Cayley Boik 6 2-2 14, Kayce Berger 3 0-0 6, Elise Aker 1 0-0 2, Brynlee Amdahl 1 1-2 3, Mackenzie Zubke 1 0-0 2, Callie Miller 1 0-0 2. Totals 23-47 12-24 58.

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (0-6): Ari Johnson 2 0-0 4, Jolie Fogarty 4 0-2 10, Molleigh Hofer 1 0-0 3, Sophia Eichler 3 1-2 7, Jacie Fogarty 1 0-0 2. Totals 11-42 1-4 25.

Waubay-Summit 13 33 51 58

Aberdeen Christian 6 9 21 25

3-point field goals – Jolie Fogarty 2. Total fouls – Waubay-Summit 8; Aberdeen Christian 12. Rebounds – Waubay-Summit 38 (Heinje 8); Aberdeen Christian 26 (Eichler 6). Turnovers – Waubay-Summit 12; Aberdeen Christian 22.