WARDEN — Warden girls basketball picked up a commanding win in their opening home game against Columbia (Burbank), 61-19.

The Cougars got off to a strong start and never looked back, leading by double digits by the end of the first quarter at 16-5. Jaryn Madsen filled the stat sheet in the quarter, with three points, two rebounds and a pair of assists. Rylee McKay had a strong performance in the quarter in the paint, finishing with six points in the first.

“It was nice to come out and get some stops right off the bat, and then it felt like we were a little bit jittery to start with, a little bit jumpy,” head coach Josh Madsen said. “Eventually, we settled down and kinda hit our groove. And our defense stayed and our offense kicked in, pretty tough.”

Warden picked up right where they’d left off in the second, with Madsen leading the way on offense with eight points and a rebound and assist to go with it. Four Cougar players nabbed a steal in the quarter as the Warden defense remained smothering all game. The Cougars went into the half, up 26 at 36-10.

Kiana and Jlynn Rios paced the Cougars in the third with five points apiece. McKay chipped in four down low as Warden continued to stretch their lead. The Cougars headed into the fourth up 56-17.

In a low-scoring fourth, the Cougars held the visitors to just two points. Four Warden players finished in double-figures, led by Jaryn Madsen with 13. She added four rebounds, four assists and a block in the win.

Jlynn and Kiana Rios each finished with 11, two rebounds and two assists in the game. Kiana Rios added a team-high four steals for the Cougars. McKay had a strong game down low, with 10 points, six rebounds, a steal and a block.

Transfer Brecka Erdmann had a strong stat line as well in her home opener at Warden, with six points, five rebounds, four assists and a pair of blocks.

Josh Madsen said the success on the defensive end was a team effort, crediting being able to break down and focus on smaller details in practice time. Offensively, different Cougars led the way throughout the game on the offensive end, something Madsen said he thought this team might be able to do coming into the season.

“We’ve got a lot of weapons,” Josh Madsen said. “And it’s cool that girls are able to kind of share the ball and, when somebody’s got an open look, or somebody’s got a better matchup, or they’re hot, whatever, girls are playing unselfish. And we’re playing as a team, and we’re pretty tough when we’re doing that.”

Winning in a big way gave the Cougars time to work on some new things, Josh Madsen said. While getting the win is always great, the Warden head coach said now his focus turns towards how he can help his team continue to improve.

“We don’t want to settle, we don’t want to say, oh, well we’re good enough and kind of fall back,” Madsen said. “We’re gonna continue to nitpick, we’re gonna continue to find stuff we can tweak to get better, mostly on the defensive end.”