Emily Anderson

WORTHINGTON — Emily Anderson and her Martin County West basketball teammates made sure Cliff Anderson netted a win in his first-ever game as the Maverick girls program’s head coach on Saturday.

Emily Anderson poured in a game-best 19 points, grabbed six rebounds and rejected four opposing shots to help engineer Martin County West’s 38-35 season-opening triumph over Edgerton during the Minnesota West College’s Thanksgiving Classic in Worthington.

Cliff Anderson, who served as the Maverick boys basketball program’s head coach for more than two decades, made the move during the offseason to fill the void created by legendary MCW mentor Rodger Taylor’s retirement.

Avery Sanders contributed eight points to the Mavericks’ winning performance, while teammate Liv Borchardt delivered seven points, six boards, three assists and three blocked shots.

Ella Carlson tallied three points and pulled down seven rebounds for MCW, while Courtney Anderson supplied seven rebounds.

The Mavericks connected on 11 of 31 field goals overall and 13 of 24 free throws, while matching Edgerton on the boards by collecting 33 apiece during the season-opener.

The two teams were tied at 18-all at intermission.

Alyda Vande Griend scored 15 points to pace Edgerton, while teammate Mateya Gilbertson chipped in nine points.

Edgerton made 10 of 47 shots from 2-point range, 3 of 16 behind the 3-point arc and 6 of 16 at the free throw line.

Martin County West (1-0) travels to Winthrop on Monday night to face Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop, while Edgerton (0-1) hits the road to Mountain Lake on Friday for a game against Mountain Lake Area/Comfrey.