MONMOUTH — It isn’t every year that their first win is a belated Christmas present.

That’s the way this season has unfolded for the Mt. Abram Roadrunners. With an untypically young squad, Mt. Abram started the year winless before earning a long-awaited 45-22 victory over Monmouth Wednesday.

“It’s so nice,” said senior guard Kylie Rolbiecki. “We’ve been waiting for so long. It has been really hard. It’s been frustrating, but you have to keep your head up. You have to understand that they’re freshmen, and they have a lot of experience. We’re slowly pulling it together. I knew it would come eventually.”

The Roadrunners (1-5) won 14 games last year and lost in the Western C semifinal. Mt. Abram was expected to have a solid core returning, but they lost all-star Kenni Norton to graduation, another returnee moved away and two others decided not to play. The Roadrunners also lost veteran guard Mikayla Burbank to a knee injury. That’s left Mt. Abram with seven freshmen and a sophomore on a squad of 14. 

“We’re getting there,” said Mt. Abram coach Doug Lisherness, who had just one returning starter in Rolbiecki and one other senior in Heather Campbell. “We made a lot of mistakes, which we’ve been doing, but I thought we really did work hard. I’ll give them credit. They haven’t got discouraged. They keep working.”

Freshman Tori Bean lead the Roadrunners with 10 points while another freshman Miranda Smith added eight. Mt. Abram had 10 players score. Though they missed a lot of shots, the Roadrunners weren’t timid on the offensive end. When Mt. Abram started to hit some shots, the lead began to expand.

“It seems like all the games, it just wouldn’t go in,” said Rolbiecki. “Most of them, we weren’t really taking our time, but even the ones we were, they seemed to be in and out. Tonight, they seemed to be falling a lot more for us.”

Monmouth, which has four freshmen and six sophomores, got nine from freshman Sierra Spencer and five from freshman Daisi Poole. After tying the game midway through the second quarter, the Mustangs (1-6) couldn’t keep pace with the Roadrunners. Monmouth had over 30 turnovers and couldn’t get any offensive consistency going. The Mustangs scored just six points in the entire second half.

“We have a tough time coming out of that hole right now,” said Monmouth coach Rick Amero. “We’re not scoring a lot of points. We’re still trying to find our identity offensively. We’ve got kids that are not sure yet about that go-to player. We have four freshmen on the floor a lot of nights. I think we have a couple on the floor that can develop into that, but it hasn’t happened yet.”

Down by as many as eight in the first quarter, the Mustangs tied it 12-12 in the second. Monmouth scored eight straight to open the second. Poole had three points during the run while Kristine Kahl, who finished with 10 rebounds, Spencer and Melissa Brassard all chipped in as the Mustangs battled back. A three-pointer by Bean answered that run. Though a basket by Poole kept the Mustangs close, Mt. Abram finished the half  with a 6-2 run and a 21-16 lead.

In the third, Mt. Abram started the half with back-to-back baskets by Amanda Richards and the lead was quickly up to 27-18. The Roadrunners only padded the lead in the fourth with 11 straight points.

“When they got a 10-point lead, they seemed to loosen up and a lot of kids hit shots for them,” said Amero.

Lisherness said the difference in this game was that the Roadrunners were able to stay composed and wear down the opponent mentally. That’s contrary to what has happened all season for Mt. Abram. It’s a positive the team hopes to build from.

“I hope we take what we did in this game and pull all the good stuff and leave all the bad stuff behind and just learn from it,” said Rolbiecki.