As would be expected of a deep, athletic and experienced team with aspirations of a title run here, Colton’s girls came out and “let it fly” in Wednesday’s early session of the Class 1B state tournament.

Hoisting 35 shots in the first half alone, the free-wheeling Wildcats would have been tough for any team to handle on opening day and that task happened to fall on the nervous shoulders of Trout Lake-Glenwood -- the Trout Lake side of which was making the school’s state debut.

“The girls realize they were up against one of the best teams here,” said TLG coach Roger Huffsmith. “Maybe the No. 1 team here.”

Colton, which placed third here a year ago, scored 24 of the first 27 points en route to a 64-30 victory that put the Wildcats into Thursday’s first quarterfinal at 4 p.m.

Trout Lake-Glenwood's Liz Vogt goes for a rebound over Colton's C.J. Becker in the second half of Wednesday's game.   GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic

Coach Clark Vining’s crew blended a solid inside game with 20 attempts from 3-point distance and finished with a nifty 44.3-percent shooting effort from its 61 shots. TLG managed 35 shots.

“For a first game at 10:30 in the morning, we played well,” Vining said with a modest sense of relief. “If we take 30, 35 shots a half I’m fine with that. We let it fly, that’s our game.”

Colton’s versatile Alisa Moehrle-Druffel, a 5-foot-9 senior, collected 16 points, five rebounds and two steals and five different players connected on 3-pointers for the Whitman County league and district champs.

“(TLG) brought some full-court pressure and it helps that we’ve seen a lot of that in our league,” Vining said. “We used our quickness and athleticism to handle it.”

After its initial struggles dealing with the caliber of the opponent and the new stage, TLG played a respectable game. From the five-minute mark in the second quarter to the finish, Colton outscored TLG 40-27.

“We got into more of a flow and ran our offense a little better,” Huffsmith said. “There were obviously nerves but they settled down and played hard.”

Sophomore Megan Anderson hit two 3-pointers and scored eight of her team-high 11 points in the third quarter for the Mustangs. Anderson and freshman reserve had seven rebounds apiece. Starting guard Kindra Van Laar strained her right ankle in the third period but later returned to the game.

Five of TLG’s six previous losses were to Greater Columbia B stalwarts La Salle, Riverside Christian and Sunnyside Christian and the Mustangs followed each lopsided setback with a victory. Huffsmith believes that can happen again.

“They’ll come back,” the coach said. “They always have.”

The Mustangs (17-7) will face Taholah (13-9) in a loser-out game Wednesday at 9 a.m. Taholah was outscored 16-2 in the final quarter of a 55-40 loss to Almira/Coulee-Hartline in Wednesday’s first game.