From the second quarter on, it was a tight battle between the Peacock Toilers and Vanier Spirits, but the first quarter gave the Toilers enough separation to hold off the Spirits.

Peacock scored a 67-44 win at Vanier in girls division action in the Moose Jaw High School Senior Basketball League on Tuesday night.

“I was definitely happy with the second half, we really came back and showed who we are oppose to the first half for sure,” said Vanier senior Annah McDonald.

The Toilers led 22-6 at the end of the first quarter and 47-15 at halftime, but the Spirits struck back with a big third quarter, outscoring Peacock 18-8 to close the gap to 55-33 heading into the fourth.

The win improved Peacock’s record to 3-0 on the year.

“We were able to work on some things, we’re still a little scrambley at some times and our heads need to be in the game more, but that’s all we need to work on, settling down and running through our offence,” said Peacock senior Katherine McDougall.

Vanier sits at 0-4 after the loss, having dropped a game to all four other senior girls teams.

McDonald said they gave the Toilers too much respect early in the game, “It was in our heads, a little bit of defeat, Peacock has that thing about them, so it got to us, but we were able to shake it off and became who we are as a team,” she said.

“We did keep up in the second half, so if we would have started like that, we could have been with them all the way.”

McDonald led Vanier with 12 points in the loss, while Mackenzie Miller chipped in with eight and Trinity Roberts added seven.

Piper Ingalls had 22 points for Peacock to lead all scorers, while Alexia Aikman added eight points. McDougall and Abby Busch chipped in with seven each.

McDougall feels the Toilers are still settling into their game, but she likes the speed that they’re playing with right now.

“When we can play full speed and push the ball, that’s definitely where everyone is comfortable,” she said. “In the first quarter, we were able to push the ball, but after point, we just settled into it.”

In Senior Boys action on Tuesday, the Peacock Toilers scored a 95-83 win over the Vanier Vikings to improve to 2-1 on the year. Vanier falls to 2-2.

Vanier’s Ronald Nyekowat led all scorers with 32 points in the loss, while Peacock was led by Riley Herridge with 30 points.

The Caronport Cougars were scheduled to host the Assiniboia Rockets on Tuesday as well, but the boys and girls match-ups were postponed to a later date due to the icy roads.

The Toilers are back on the court next Tuesday to host the Cougars, while the Spirits are off until Jan. 23 when they make their way to Assiniboia to take on the Rockets.