The Ripon defense stifled visiting Hilmar on Tuesday night, holding the Yellowjackets to single digits every quarter in a 37-24 win to kick off the Trans Valley League girls basketball season.

Hilmar (0-1, 4-8 overall) finished with more turnovers, 26, than it did points.

“When they turn the ball over more than they scored, that’s a good thing,” Ripon coach Rick Inderbitzin said. “I thought at times our defense was pretty good, but then there were other times that we really needed to improve on.

“On the other end, we didn’t score as much as I thought we would but overall for a game like this, the first day back in league, we will take it as a win and we are looking forward to our next game on Thursday with Riverbank. They have a pretty good team so I don’t know if we were looking ahead tonight or not playing up to our ability.”

The Indians (1-0, 10-5) had problems scoring themselves, managing just one quarter out of single digits with 12 points in the fourth period and no player in double figures.

Kaylee Hutchinson scored six points in the fourth quarter and led Ripon with nine points along with seven rebounds, five steals, two assists and a block.

“Although we were a little shaky at first once we had some timeouts coach told us to look around for the open player so we could see what we could do,” Hutchinson said. “We would basically bait the other team and then make the passes.”

Emily Sesser added seven points, seven rebounds and a steal for the Indians. Esme Macias (four points, three rebounds, assist) nabbed seven of Ripon’s 18 steals and Gabby Delgado (six points) blocked five shots and made four rebounds.

“We could have played better on defense,” Delgado said. “Considering we haven’t had a home game in so long I am excited for what we are going to do in league with our defense.”

Hilmar’s Alicia Souza led all scorers with 12 points and pulled down the most rebounds with 10.

The Indians travel to Riverbank on Thursday night at 7. 

Junior varsity

Ripon 34, Hilmar 14

Vanessa Ponce led a balanced Indians attack with nine points.

Ripon’s Kailee Inderbitzin added eight points.

Freshman

Ripon 44, Hilmar 7

Ava VanderWerff posted a double-double to lead the Indians with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Ripon’s Shayla McKeon flirted with a double-double with 14 rebounds, eight points and three blocks. Julliana Estrada added eight points and four steals and Leila Sanchez nabbed four steals.