RAPID CITY - The St. Thomas More girls completed an excellent first week of the high school basketball season Tuesday night as the Cavaliers took charge early and rolled to an easy

52-33 win over Bennett County. The lopsided victory was the Cavaliers third win of the year.

The game certainly didn't appear to be headed anywhere toward easy in the early going as Bennett County guard Bobbie Porch scored her team's first five points, staking the Lady Warriors to an early 5-1 lead.

Porch would not score again. Nor would few others wearing purple for quite some time as More proceeded to go on a 23-2 tear.

Cavalier standout Caitlin Duffy ignited the rally with a couple of driving lay-ups after missing her first couple shots from the wing.

"They weren't falling from the outside for me in the first half," said Duffy. "So I just tried to make some adjustments and take it to the hoop."

She would do so very successfully scoring seven points in the first quarter.

"She is just very, very solid," said Cavalier coach Brandon Kandolin. "She grows every day in the mental part of the game and continues to get strong physically, too. It seems like every day you can see improvement."

And then, everybody jumped on the scoring bandwagon.

Kelsey Bekaert hit a nice follow in the lane, Katy Freidel scored off a fast-break, and Erin Duffy swiped an offensive rebound and added another bucket. Nor did it hurt that sophomore Taylor Dauwen came off the bench and tossed in a quick six points. When the onslaught ended at the 3-minute mark of the second quarter, the Cavaliers were up by 17. A 6-0 run by Bennett County made the score a respectable 25-13 at intermission.

Any thoughts of a Bennett County comeback were quickly dashed in the early moments of the second half.

And by guess who? Apparently well rested, Duffy came out and scored 14 points in the third quarter. In succession, she hit a couple of jump shots from just inside the arc and followed up with a driving lay-up and a foul, which she converted. For good measure, Duffy tossed in a 3-pointer in the last quarter and added a couple of free throws to complete her 24 point effort on the night.

Bennett County coach, Jody Gittings, had the right idea, just the wrong execution.

"When we came out, we were going to try and keep the ball out of her hands, but their coach did a good job in getting her open. They ran a lot of back picks for her, and we didn't talk. The result was trouble."

In addition to Caitlin Duffy's 24 points, Taylor Dauwen added nine while Katy Freidel and Erin Duffy both contributed six. Bennett County was led by Amy O'Neill's nine points.

Bennett County (1-2 overall) hosts Gordon, Neb., on Friday night while St. Thomas More (3-0) hits the road for 5:30 p.m. matchup with Alliance, Neb.