Many factors are in play: low numbers on both sides, little to no game experience and players getting accustomed to the speed of the varsity game.

Lowellville did its best to overcome those early-season traps in a 41-20 win over Campbell Thursday night.

“We hadn’t played a game so these girls had been wanting to get on the court,” Lowellville coach Lisa Modelski said. “Our biggest thing was just setting the tone and not worrying what the other team was doing, but what we are doing. How are we going to take care of the ball? I thought we came out with some guns blazing. That’s not typical for us always.”

Sammie Moore led the Rockets with a game-high 13 points. Carli Vari-Coppola had 11 rebounds as Lowellville controlled the glass with 40 rebounds to Campbell’s 27.

Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Campbell sophomore Madison Shuger shoots a 3-pointer during the first half against Lowellville.

“Sammie has always been our leader,” Modelski said. “She’s usually our most consistent threat. She’s aggressive for how small she is. She has the most experience as a junior. Carli is a sophomore. She didn’t play until the last couple of games last year. These girls are young. They have to figure it out. It was just nice to get on the court and get a game in. I’m just hoping to build on that.”

Lowellville finished the opening quarter on a 9-0 run to build a 17-7 advantage — one the Rockets wouldn’t relinquish.

“I think for us, we didn’t compete defensively hard enough,” Campbell coach Bernard Scott said. “In that first half, we gave up a lot of open looks for a team that shoots it very well. Then we got beat on some back cuts where we just didn’t communicate. The first two quarters really hurt us. It put us behind and put a lot of pressure on us to try and make shots consistently.”

That it did as the Rockets outscored the Red Devils 11-5 in the second quarter to build a 28-12 lead at the half as Campbell’s struggles continued all night from the floor.

“We wanted to press and we didn’t really play man like we wanted to, but I think that’s because we came out hitting some shots and got the lead,” Modelski said. “I didn’t want to sit in man against them. Teams play a zone for that reason.”

Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Lowellville junior Sammie Moore, left, plays defense while Campbell junior Cayla Marshall looks for an open teammate during the second half.

Madison Sugar had two 3s in the first half that kept it close early for the Red Devils.

She led Campbell along with Ammie Murphy with six points each.

“I thought Ammie played well,” Scott said. “Carli played well. She made some shots for us. We need them to make shots to have a chance. Hopefully they keep making their shots so we can bring some other people along.”

Scott wanted to run in the second half as it provided some early success for Campbell, but saw Lowellville go to zone and from there into a stall which slowed the pace of the game.

Both teams struggled to muster much in the way of offense with Campbell shooting 4 of 22 and Lowellville 4 of 23.

“We usually have some inconsistencies which we showed in the second half with shooting,” Modelski said. “We put a little press on to slow the ball down and I thought that worked because we got tired being only six to seven deep.

Scott felt his team did compete much better in the second half with it being 13-8 as the Red Devils completed better on both ends but couldn’t close the gap any further than 12 throughout the third and fourth quarters.

“I think that transpired in the second half,” Modelski said. “We wanted to hold the ball a little bit. I wanted to do that but I did think it took us out of our momentum and that speed we like to play with.”