Freshmen Riley Childress and Emma Ruhlman made their first career varsity starts and shared the team lead in steals with five each, while Childress also shared the team lead in assists with four and Ruhlman was second with 15 points.

This despite a bit of a slow start for Warren offensively.

“They were definitely nervous (to start),” said Warren coach Lisa LaVan, who picked up win No. 150 as Dragons head coach. “We took an early timeout to settle them down. There was some angst and nerves

Warren (1-0) got an early bucket and free throw from Margo Loutzenhiser, who was given a ball commemorating her 1,000th career point prior to the game, but struggled to connect for the next few minutes. The Dragons defense held the Oilers (0-1) to just two points and kept creating chances for the offense. Eventually, that swarming defense began creating turnovers that led to transition points and Warren finished the first quarter on a 16-0 run to take a 19-2 lead after the first 12 minutes.

The Warren Lady Dragons paid tribute to the late Jack White by laying flowers on his chair where he always sat for home games before the start of their Tip-Off Tournament game against Oil City on Friday.

“The biggest thing is this was their first varsity game together as a group,” LaVan said. “They’ve still got to learn to (run the offense) the way we want.”

Those early jitters were cleared by the time the second quarter began and Warren continued to use defense to create offense and outscored Oil City 20-3 in the frame to take a 39-5 lead into the locker room. The Dragons ran their half court offense at length in the second half, and took the opportunity to give every player valuable minutes during the latter stages of the game. Every player on the varsity roster registered at least one point as well.

“We have a core group of eight (players) right now, but I think we’re going to move to nine or 10 soon,” LaVan said. “Every one of them can have a great night.”

While Loutzenhiser was her typical self with 19 points and four assists, LaVan had high praise for a number of players taking on some new roles.

“Riley did a nice job running the point,” she said. “Teagan (Paris) battled well and Taylor (Childress) gave us some good minutes off the bench.”

Warren’s Alanna Hultberg drives past Oil City’s Tessa Stack during their game on Friday.

Oil City will face Southwestern (N.Y.) in the consolation game today at 6 p.m., while Warren squares off with Panama (N.Y.) in the championship at 7:30 p.m. The Warren volleyball team will be honored prior to the championship game.

– – –

OIL CITY (15)

Stack 3-1-2-8, Neeley 3-0-0-7, Manning 0-0-0-0, Merwin 0-0-0-0, Fischli 0-0-0-0, Anderson 0-0-0-0, Karns 0-0-0-0, Dobson 0-0-0-0, Bly 0-0-0-0, Team 6-1-2-15.

WARREN (66)

Warren’s Teagan Paris locks in on defense during the Lady Dragons’ game against Oil City.

Loutzenhiser 8-1-3-19, Ruhlman 5-5-7-15, Hultberg 3-2-2-8, R. Childress 2-2-2-6, Mineweaser 2-2-3-6, Stuart 2-0-0-4, Paris 1-1-3-3, T. Childress 1-0-2-2, Matson 1-0-0-2, Madigan 0-1-2-1, Team 26-14-24-66.

By quarters

Oil City 2 3 5 5 – 15

Warren 19 20 17 10 – 66

3-point FGs

Oil City: Stack, Neeley. Warren: Loutzenhiser (2).

– – –

PANAMA (N.Y.) 55, SOUTHWESTERN (N.Y.) 44, OT

Panama erased a 10-point halftime deficit, and overcame a late Southwestern surge in regulation to win the first semifinal game of the 6th annual Lady Dragons Tip-Off Tournament, 55-44, in overtime.

The Trojans led by double digits until late in the third quarter before the Panthers took a six point lead with two minutes to go in the fourth. Southwestern’s Erin Radack hit a three with 20 seconds to go in regulation to send the game to overtime.

Panama’s depth showed through in the extra frame as they dominated play through the overtime period. They will now face the host Dragons in the championship game, while Southwestern matches up with Oil City in the consolation.

– – –

JV SEMIFINAL: WARREN 31, OIL CITY 8

Warren cruised to a 31-8 victory over Oil City in the semifinals of the junior varsity tournament.

Katie Madigan was the only player in double figures with 11 points. Halee Mineweaser added five points in the win.

The Dragons will face Panama in the championship game. The Panthers got a floater from Maddie Lisciandro as time expired to grab a 43-41 win over Southwestern.

– – –

Oil City (8)

Manning 1-1-2-3, Merwin 1-0-0-3, Karns 1-0-0-2, Fischili, Bly, Anderson, Dobson, Plowman, Winters (all 0s)

Warren (31)

Madigan 5-1-4-11, Mineweaser 2-1-4-5, Kraft 2-0-0-4, Albaugh 1-1-2-3, Walker, 1-0-0-2, Bowman 1-0-0-2, Paris 1-0-2-2, Munksgard 1-0-0-2, Team 14-3-12-31

By quarters

Oil City 0 1 2 5 – 8

Warren 6 9 10 6 – 31

3-point FGs

Oil City: Merwin. Warren: None.