Rob Hodges was happy with the improvement his Lebanon girls basketball team showed from its first game to its second game. Springfield coach Duncan Thomas hopes for a similar experience with his young team.

Coming off a three-point win over Kings, Lebanon dominated Springfield 79-27 Wednesday night with easy baskets and a defense that made the Wildcats settle for too many long-range shots.

“We did improve,” Hodges said. “You have nerves that are tested the first game, you have a lot of questions that still have to be answered. No matter how much we know the answers, the girls still don’t know the answers.

“We were much more relaxed, much more focused, much more determined to win this one in the fashion that we know we can win games. That’s the biggest difference from the first one to the second one.”

Thomas, whose team was 5-16 and 0-10 in the GWOC Central last year, expected more out of his team despite only three players returning from last year. After a poor first scrimmage, the Wildcats played more to the coach’s liking in the next three scrimmages.

“I saw a lot of promise in the scrimmages,” Thomas said. “We held our own against teams that were just as big as them and probably better. We came in tonight and we just laid an egg. We stunk up the place. It’s on me to correct that.”

Lebanon used a 17-point run to jump out to a 28-6 lead after one quarter. It wasn’t until Lynsee Spatz made an 18-footer a minute into the second quarter that the Warriors had to shoot anything other than a layup. After Leah Perry started the game with three layups, the Warriors kept going to the basket.

“Defense was nonexistent — let’s just be blunt about it,” Thomas said. “Not moving our feet, not talking at all. They were running the three-man weave up top, and I’m seeing layups. We’re supposed to stop that and switch on everything. We talked about it before the game. That’s what really aggravates me.”

Lebanon’s Sam Showalter did make a 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter, but there was hardly a need for the Warriors to shoot from outside. Perry finished with 14 points, Gracen Howard, the team’s leading scorer last year, scored 21 points and Jordan Sekerak scored 10 off the bench.

Hodges, whose team is 2-0 for the first time in his five years as coach, said continuing to execute on offense will be important as the Warriors try to improve on last year’s 9-12 finish (5-5 in the GWOC South).

“The simplest, basic parts of basketball — we’ve got to put the ball in the hole and we have to defend,” Hodges said. “Sometimes you have to create and put a little pressure on the defense when you have the ball. And sometimes you have to put pressure on their offense. We want to be able to apply pressure and know that we have control of the game. And tonight was pretty evident of that.”