Staff photo / Brian Yauger Girard’s Makenzee White (20) takes the ball down the court while Niles’ Hannah Grimm tries to stay with her during a game at Niles on Monday.

NILES — After being held to just two points in the first quarter, Girard rallied back, taking down Niles, 51-46, to give the Indians their first win of the season.

Part of Girards’s success can be credited to the return of senior forward Makenzee White from an ankle injury.

While still not fully healed, the senior was indispensable against the Red Dragons, leading the team with 16 points and was a defensive force when called upon.

“It feels real good (to get our first win, but) it feels good to have (White) back with us,” Indians coach Joe Bornemiss said. “She’s been out the last two games with an ankle injury, and it was nice to have her back with her teammates. She’s a leader as a senior, and you could see how everybody feeds off of her. They’re watching her hobble along out here, and that puts a little bit of fire in their gut too, to see her, a girl playing with half a leg and still out there, contributing.”

White insisted on playing, and didn’t want to miss a league game.

Having her out there was crucial to Girard’s success after a rough start.

Just two first quarter points among a sea of missed shots could have sunk them, but they stuck to the plan. They got the rebounds, they had the right energy, the shots just weren’t falling.

“I still think we missed a bunch of layups, I don’t know how many, but we missed a bunch,” Bornemiss said. “But the energy. If this team plays with energy, I think they’ll be successful. I think they really will.”

The Indians just needed to stick to the plan. At halftime, that’s all Bornemiss wanted.

“I talked about it at halftime. The only thing I told them was to keep your effort in. Keep your effort up, and if you rebound the ball in the second half, we’ll have a good chance of winning the game, and we did that,” “Bornemiss said.

White’s 16 points led Girard, and a 14-point effort from junior Ally Gassman helped propel the Indians to their first win of the season.

Sophomore Kherington Stanford led the Red Dragons with her own 14-point effort. Both Gianna Wagner and Ava Ferri each tallied 11 for Niles.

Niles (2-3) plays Lakeview at home on Thursday.

Things aren’t getting easier for Girard, as they hit the road to take on South Range on Thursday.

“We told him that it’s a better bus trip going down there, with that 1-3 record and a league win than traveling down there 0-4 after a league loss.”

The Northeast 8 has only gotten tougher this season, so every win is going to come at a premium.

“This is a tough league,” Bornemiss said. “Everybody has improved. This whole league has improved. Everybody is better. They get deeper on the bench. They have younger kids playing. We emphasize that at practice. We still practice real hard, but we emphasize that this isn’t last year. This is a new year. We have got to be ready for teams every night.”