AHOSKIE – Two rookies made the most of their debut here Tuesday.

First-year Ridgecroft Head Basketball Coach Susan Nabinger got a win in her inaugural contest at the helm of the Lady Rams’ program, but she wasn’t the only one who was sensational in her debut.

Sophomore Emily Cooke poured in 22 points as she helped pace the Lady Rams to a 73-24 victory over non-conference rival Greenfield School.

The Lady Rams in fact scored the first 21 points of the contest as they rolled to a 21-3 advantage by the end of the first period.

Senior Hayes Bryant, who had 21 points of her own, started the scoring with the first hoop of the game. Cooke then buried a deuce and a trey back-to-back as Ridgecroft began to pull away.

Senior April Piland got in on the scoring with back-to-back buckets before Cooke and Bryant rolled off a combined eight points.

Emily Revelle had Ridgecroft’s final two points of the first quarter, giving the Lady Rams a 21-0 lead. Taylor Powell finally got the Lady Knights on the board when she hit her only three-pointer of the night.

Azlynn Aycock scored first hoop in the second quarter to trim Greenfield’s deficit to 21-5, but the Lady Rams scored the next eight points.

Junior Bardin Murray scored six of those points while Revelle added the other basket as Ridgecroft claimed a 29-5 lead.

Greenfield got as close as 29-10 after a Victoria Vesce free throw, but Ridgecroft scored 12 of the next 14 points to lead 41-12 at the intermission. Piland led that charge with six of the points.

Bryant scored eight of the opening 10 points of the second half with Cooke adding the other score as Ridgecroft grabbed an insurmountable 51-12 lead with 5:12 to go in the third quarter.

From there, the Lady Rams set it on cruise control and breezed to the easy victory.

“The girls played well,” Nabinger said afterwards. “I am proud of them. They have worked hard in practice.

“We played good defense and that led to us getting our fast breaks going,” she added. “What we don’t have in height, we make up in speed and agility.”

The Lady Rams are now 1-0 on the season and will travel to Southampton Academy on Tuesday.

Lady Rams (73): Emily Cooke n 22, Hayes Bryant n 21, April Piland n 12, Emily Revelle n 7, Bardin Murray n 6, Caitlin Harrison n 4, Jessica Bolton n 1

Lady Knights (24): Azlynn Aycock n 9, Walker Finke n 7, Victoria Vesce n 5, Taylor Powell – 3