EDWARDSBURG — A 23-1 start was more than enough to make a winner out of Edwardsburg Tuesday night in its girls’ basketball season opener.

The Lady Eddies (1-0) rolled to a 64-32 victory over visiting White Pigeon in a non-conference contest.

Ashley Streb got the first bucket of the season at the 6:25 mark of the opening quarter and the Eddies never looked back.

Edwardsburg used a balanced scoring attack to take a 29-8 advantage into the half.

Rachel Vite, Emily Kozinski and Mariah Murphy combined to score 24 of Edwardsburg’s 29 first half points. Vite led the way with 10, while Kozinski and Murphy had eight and six points respectively.

The Eddies scored inside, outside and at the free throw line. At the defensive end of the floor, Edwardsburg was pretty solid, although nine first half fouls did leave several players with two or more.

With the Eddies leading 15-0 with 7:39 to go in the first half, White Pigeon’s Amy Nussbaum hit one of two free throws to stop the Edwardsburg run.

It would be another four minutes before the Chiefs scored again. Their first basket of the contest would come with 1:46 to play in the first half on a shot by Sara Anderson.

White Pigeon came out and outscored the Eddies 14-12 in the third quarter, but Edwardsburg regouped and put together a strong final quarter to pull away.

Leading 41-22 heading into the final period, the Eddies exploded for 23 points and held the Chiefs to just 10.

“I was pleased to get the first win under our belts heading into the conference opener on Friday,” Edwardsburg coach Nicole Cartwright said. “It was a great team effort. I was very happy with the balanced offensive attack and the defensive intensity.”

Kozinski ended up leading all scorers with 17 points, while Vite finished with 16. Edwardsburg also got 10 points from Murphy and seven points from Ashley Streb.

Vite also had 10 rebounds, while Streb had seven assists and six steals.

White Pigeon was led by Amy Nussbaum with nine points. Emily Abbs added seven and Nicolette Kershner six.

Edwardsburg begins Lakeland Conference play on Friday night when it hosts Buchanan.

WHITE PIGEON 32

Sara Anderson 2 0-2 5; Rachel Brock 1 0-0 2; Emily Abbs 2 3-3 7; Jordan Phelps 0 0-0 0; Amy Nussbaum 2 5-8 9; Nicollete Kershner 3 0-2 6; Ashley Eash 0 0-0 0; Atty Floo 0 3-6 3. TOTALS: 10 11-21 32

EDWARDSBURG 64

Rachel Vite 7 2-4 16; Jill Blough 0 0-0 0; Emily Kozinski 8 0-0 17; Hannah Hack 0 2-2 2; Sarah D’Amico 2 0-0 4; Ashley Streb 3 1-2 7; Branda Fleischauer 1 0-0 2. Mariah Murphy 5 0-0 10; Brooke Portwood 3 0-0 6. TOTALS: 29 5-8 64

White Pigeon 0 8 22 32

Edwardsburg 15 29 41 64

3-point baskets: White Pigeon 1 (Anderson), Edwardsburg 1 (Kozinski). Total fouls: White Pigeon 7, Edwardsburg 22. Fouled out: D’Amico (E). Varsity records: Edwardsburg 1-0, White Pigeon 0-1