ROYAL CITY — The Warden High School girls basketball team picked up a strong win on the road on Monday evening over the Royal High School Knights, winning 82-24.

The Warden Cougars jumped out to a 22-5 lead after the first quarter thanks to both a swarming defense and red-hot offense. Warden finished with 19 steals as a team, then kept up the hot pace in the second quarter, taking a 42-12 advantage into halftime.

Warden didn’t lose any momentum after the half, leading 64-20 after the third and 82-24 at the end of regulation. All eight Cougars who hit the floor scored, finishing with 16 assists as a team.

Jaryn Madsen led Warden with 18 points, while Kiana Rios finished with 17. Freshman Lauryn Madsen finished with 15 points in just her second game. Rylee McKay finished with 12 points in the post. The victory moved Warden to 2-0 for the season.

Cougars head coach Josh Madsen said he was happier with his team’s performance after struggling with turnovers.

“It was a good team win; girls were flying around, they played really hard and they shared the ball really well,” Madsen said. “They’re looking for each other and we’ve got a lot of weapons.”

Madsen said it’s been a group effort with an experienced squad returning from a strong 2019-20 campaign. He said it’s been “one collective voice” leading and said Madsen has stepped right into the mix.

After being off for such a long time, Madsen said, the team is just happy to be back on the court, taking this season one game at a time.

For Royal, senior Chenoa Louie led the team with nine points. Fellow senior Raylie Wardenaar added five. Royal’s record moved to 1-1 for the season.

Royal head coach Steven Harris tipped his hat to Warden on a strong performance and said the Cougars were impressive on both ends of the floor. With just three returning varsity players this season, Harris said, there’s been some growing pains.

“With only five practices, it’s difficult to prepare to play games with this many new players, but hopefully we’ll get better,” Harris said.

He said seniors Louie and Wardenaar have been leaders for the team, with the pair both set to play next season at the collegiate level. Harris said the goal moving forward is just getting better every day.

Next up for Royal is a home game versus Quincy High School on Wednesday evening. Warden will return home to host Okanogan High School Thursday.

Casey McCarthy can be reached via email at cmccarthy@columbiabasinherald.com.