The United South Central girls basketball team came up with their first win of the 2008-09 season in a big way, handling Medford 61-18 in Wells Friday night.

Eight girls for the Rebels found the hoop with Lindsey Dahl leading the way with 15 points and 8 rebounds followed by Kayla Stenzel with nine points, 16 rebounds and Val Sahr adding eight points and 15 boards. USC, with its four new starters to this year’s team on the floor, found that it took a little while for them to find their legs and their shot but when they did the buckets fell fast and often.

“The girls got off to a bit of slow start tonight,” Rebels head coach Stu Hendrickson said. “We missed some easy buckets early and turned the ball over way too much early on.”

The Rebels were tough on the boards to make up for their poor shooting.

“You can tell by the number of rebounds that we had — especially in the first half — they missed a lot of shots.” Hendrickson said.

USC had 61 rebounds on the night. Val Sahr and Kayla Stenzel combined for 31 rebounds. The Tigers had just 20 rebounds in the game.

His team shot less than 20 percent from the floor.

“We have alot of new girls out there this year,” Hendrickson said. “It is understandable that it is going to take some time for it to come together.”

Coach Hendrickson was pleased with the way his 11 who dressed tonight played, especially since seven of the 11 have never seen any varsity time before. USC has just one returning starter.

“In the second half the girls only turned the ball over five times,” Hendrickson said. “I will take that number in a half at any time of the year and in any game.”

The USC Rebels are now 1-1 early in the season and play next against New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva Thursday.

USC 61, Medford 18

USC scoring: Val Sahr 8, Kayla Stenzel 9,

Lindsey Dahl 15, Danielle Koestler 3,

Ciara Christenson 9, Taylor Allis 6,

Megan Jacobson 5, Nicole Youngblom 6.