News file photo Athletes play in this news file photo.

After a frustrating start to the season, the Alpena High girls basketball team put together the performance it needed on Monday as the Wildcats cruised to their first victory of the season in dominant fashion, blowing out Tawas by a final score of 57-11.

The Wildcats (1-3) entered Monday’s contest losers of three straight to open the season including a pair of frustrating conference losses and a disappointing loss over the weekend.

But the Wildcats put those performances behind them and put together a much-needed, confidence-building win over the Braves (0-4).

“I would have liked to have gotten the first win a little earlier, but just getting a win and for them to feel confident, feel comfortable, start playing together and feeding off each other is helpful,” Alpena head coach Erin Andrews said. 

Alpena came out of the gates on fire and dominated in every facet as it created open looks, knocked shots down, controlled the glass at both ends of the floor and suffocated the Braves with a press defense that all led to a commanding 24-2 lead after one quarter.

Alpena continued its strong play at both ends of the floor and carried a 35-4 lead into the half.

“Being able to run our press and run some of our other defenses and offenses throughout the game tonight was important for us,” Andrews said. “We ran our offense well tonight, better than we have in our first couple of games so getting good looks and being able to hit those open looks was a huge boost for us tonight.”

The Wildcats showed no signs of slowing up in the second half and were determine to use Monday’s performance as a way to improve and build momentum moving forward.

“We talked about not letting up all game and made sure we stayed focused and I was proud of the girls for playing hard from start to finish,” Andrews said. “Everyone put in good minutes tonight and we know we can sub in anyone and make changes at any time and feel confident about who we have on the court.”

Alpena was paced by Allie DeRocher who poured in a game-high 17 points. Allison Urlaub added seven points and Reese Wisniewski, Avery Dubie and Alayna Trelfa each finished with six points in the win.

The Wildcats will look to ride the momentum they built on Monday with a quick turnaround when they host Gaylord at 5:30 p.m tonight.