BOURBON – It’s been over a week since most of the area basketball teams have been able to take the court. One look at the hot start Triton’s girls basketball team had Wednesday night might have suggested otherwise for the girls in white and blue.

Triton exploded out of the gate, scoring nine points in the first 50 seconds of the game while completely overwhelming Manchester, 72-35, in non-conference buckets at the Trojan Trench.

Stepping on the gas pedal from the start was Kylie Mason, who reigned threes unconsciously in the first quarter. Back-to-back treys from Mason pushed Triton to a 23-3 lead in the first quarter in what became a 17-point frame from the junior guard. Mason, used sparingly throughout the final three quarters, still kept the hot hand. Hitting 12 of her 17 shot attempts and dropping five threes to go with a perfect 5-5 from the charity stripe, Mason concluded her night with a career-high 34 points.

Not too shabby after not playing since last Tuesday at the weather-shortened Bi-County Tournament.

“I didn’t want them to get any ideas that we need to take four or five days off more often,” joked Triton head coach Adam Heckaman. “Taking that time off really helped us out.”

Taylor Hatfield kicked in 10 points and the trio of Lauren Hostrawser, Jaela Meister and Becca Kennedy all scored seven points each and combined for 21 rebounds. Krystal Sellers added seven rebounds, six assists and five steals in the win.

Manchester (1-14), which did begin to show signs of life in the second quarter, cutting the lead to under 20 before intermission, just didn’t have the horses to run with the Trojans. Senior Sydney Snep did what she could for the Squires, scoring 10 points and pulling down six boards before fouling out in the fourth quarter. The freshman duo of Drew Thompson and Cierra Carter combined for 17 points and 11 rebounds, but the visitors didn’t muster much else.

After winning its first game of the season last Monday against Fort Wayne Blackhawk, Wednesday’s loss to Triton could be a tough precursor for a long finish to the season. Manchester plays its final five games of the year before the 8th of February, and a young roster has head coach Brooke Airgood seeking answers.

“We are really young, majority of my girls are freshman so a lot of times we had four freshman and one upperclassman out there,” Airgood said. “I am proud of my girls. I know they had a lot of fight in them. We just didn’t have any answers for their shooters.”

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Triton’s schedule won’t get any easier, either. The red circle game has arrived, as a trip to Hamlet to meet Oregon-Davis is on the docket for Thursday night. The annual measuring stick rivalry game has O-D again on its game, sitting at 13-2 overall and feisty as ever. Triton move to 11-5 with the win, but have not fared well against O-D of late, losing the last five games dating back to the 2011 sectional championship game. Triton also plays again Saturday in Northern State Conference action at Jimtown to add to the flurry of games.

“Tomorrow night we’ll go in and do what we can do without practicing,” Heckaman said, whose club has won four straight games. “We did a good job getting kids in and out tonight. Making sure they are rested up for tomorrow night’s game and not wearing anybody out too much.”

Triton held control of the JV game, using nine points from Katie Lenker and eight points from Meister in a 39-25 result against Manchester. Brooklyn Howard led all scorers with 10 points to pace the Lady Squires.