Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Mid Peninsula’s Chevy Koski (22) and Rapid River’s Natalie Belanger (34) fight for a rebound as Rapid River’s Jaden Schwartz (44) looks on Monday at Mid Pen.

ST. NICHOLAS — The Mid Peninsula girls basketball team was able to shake off the rust and sprint past the Rapid RIver Rockets 45-26 here Monday in a Skyline Central conference game.

The first quarter is where it began for the Rockets as they went 0-of-10 from the field for a scoreless quarter.

“There was a lid on the bucket for us in the first quarter,” Rapid River coach Anthony Perino said. “We made some silly fouls early on. Again, you spot a team 11 points and you don’t put a ball through the bucket, what do you do?”

Neither team had played a game in weeks, and it showed as the Wolverines also struggled to find consistency.

“We’ve been off for three weeks now,” Mid Pen coach Phil Croasdell said. “I said, ‘Just concentrate on defense and the offense will come.'”

Perino also worried about his team’s lack of play.

“That long layover is still showing itself,” Perino said. “We’ve got to get the cobwebs out.”

Mid Pen’s Kennedy Englund hit two triples back-to-back in the last 40 seconds of the first quarter to increase the lead to 11-0.

The Wolverines (7-4, 5-4 SC) run extended well into the second quarter. It was finally broken by the Rockets’ Natalie Belanger sinking both her free throws with 3:39 left on the clock. The Wolverines continued to lead, but struggled on offense.

Mid Pen shot 5-of-18 (28%) from the field in the second quarter, but the Rockets only scored three more times to end the half trailing 25-8.

“We made some good adjustments on defense,” Perino said. “I like how we responded, but you only have four quarters.”

The third quarter was another struggle for the Rockets (3-7, 3-7 SC), hitting only one shot from the field and going 2-for-6 at the line.

Mid Pen scored 16 in the period for its highest scoring quarter. The Wolverines ended the third period with an increased advantage of 41-12.

Trailing by 29, the Rockets continued to fight and scored 14 points in the final quarter. Mid Pen was held to just four points in the fourth quarter.

“I’m just happy to play a game at this point,” Croasdell said.

The Rockets will now look to regroup.

“Our offensive tempo and timing wasn’t good until the second half,” Perino said. “Chalk it up to the layover and move on. You work on what you need to work on and keep moving to come back and play another day.”

Kennedy Englund scored 21 points and had 12 rebounds to lead Mid Pen. Belanger led the Rockets with nine points.

Rapid River, which won the jayvee game 53-27, travels to Forest Park today. Mid Pen visits Engadine Wednesday.

Rapid River 0 8 4 14 — 26

Mid Peninsula 11 14 16 4 — 45

Rapid River — Belanger 9, Schwartz 5, Keys 4, Thibault 3, Moss 1. FT: 10-22; F: 11; Fouled out: None.

Mid Peninsula — K. Englund 21, D. Englund 8, Koski 7, Croasdell 5, Prater 2, Derocher 2. FT: 2-8; F: 16; Fouled out: None; Technical fouls: Mayers; 3-point field goals: K. Englund 3, D. Englund 2, Koski, Croasdell.