Leading by a 21-point margin, the Manhattan High Varsity girls basketball team defeated rival Junction City on Friday night, winning 49-28. The win put Manhattan High’s win-loss ratio to 5-9.

“We’re all pretty excited, obviously with it being … the rivalry game,” junior Avery Larson said, “so it was pretty fun to just go out there and do what we know how to do.”

The girls came out on the court with high energy, with notable rebounds, steals and turnovers on JC that allowed the girls to keep the Bluejays from putting in points. Larson contributed to all points scored in the first quarter for Manhattan, adding 11 to the roster compared to Junction City’s four.

“I feel like as the season has gone on, we’ve gotten a lot better about playing off of each other,” Larson said. “The passes [and our] chemistry is all developing a lot better, so we’re all playing off of each other really well.”

Rebounding, according to Larson, was a contributor to the game’s outcome.

“We’re trying to get inside and get rebounds offensively and defensively,” Larson said. “So just getting inside, especially on zones it’s a lot easier to get rebounds just because it’s harder to find a body to box out.”

While Manhattan did put in more baskets than Junction City, several attempts missed the basket.

“I think we’re all just kind of getting a little too amped up, … maybe overshooting it a little bit, just little things like that,” Larson said. “Shots were just a little bit off. Sometimes it’s frustrating.”

Larson and sophomore Maxine Doering added 36 points altogether – 22 from Larson and 14 from Doering – or 74% of the final score. Larson, as the lead scorer of the night, contributed to 45% alone.

“It’s all off of my teammates,” Larson said. “A lot of good passes, a lot of good looks, swinging, setting up plays so that we know I’m getting the ball, so just execution.”

The girls will next play Topeka West (1-13) on Tuesday on the road.