WMU opens season with victory over New London

NEW LONDON — Winfield-Mt. Union and New London girls basketball kicked off their season on Friday night against one another.

The No. 15 Wolves started out hot and never cooled off pulling out their first win of the season a 54-24 victory.

To start the Southeast Iowa Super Conference matchup, it was all Winfield-Mt. Union.

Over the first four minutes of the game, WMU quickly built up an 11-0 lead with Keetyn Townsley, Bradie Buffington, Melina Oepping and Anna Anderson all getting in the scoring column.

The Tigers struggled to get their offense going as their first points of the game came at the 4:06 mark in the game.

Scoring woes continued for New London as it scored just two more points the rest of the first quarter, while the Wolves finished with six from that point on to take a 17-5 lead into the second quarter.

The script flipped to begin the second as New London scored four unanswered from a Camryn Lair free throw and a Emma Nye three to make it 17-9.

Winfield’s first points of the second half came with 3:50 to go in the quarter, but three straight layups, two from Buffington and one from Oepping, pushed the Wolves lead to 23-9.

Both teams would add one more basket before the half and WMU would hold onto a 25-11 lead.

Coming out of the locker room, it was all WMU.

The Wolves scored eight unanswered to extend the lead to 33-11. New London ended the run with a Nye layup, but the Wolves followed with another seven straight.

WMU would outscore the Tigers 17-6 in the third, heading into the fourth with a 42-17 advantage.

Nothing changed in the fourth.

Over the first four minutes of the final quarter, the Wolves outscored the Tigers 9-1 to make it a 51-19 ballgame.

New London outscored WMU 5-3 in the final minutes of the game, but the deficit was too great.

Buffington led the Wolves with 24 points, nine rebounds and five steals. Oepping finished with a triple double, tallying 11 points, 12 rebounds and 11 steals.

For New London, Nye led with nine points. Natalie Burden followed with eight points.

The win marks the first of the season for the Wolves and the first loss for the Tigers.