HOWELLS - It had been six years since the Howells-Dodge Jaguars girls basketball team had last beaten Pierce.

But that all changed after a 47-39 victory on Thursday night at home.

Pierce and Howells-Dodge have played each other to start the season for over 10 years and in the latest installment of the series, things were as competitive as ever.

The Jaguar's Kenadie Throener scored the first bucket of the game and Howells-Dodge never released that early lead.

Jordyn Ratzlaff was the hot-hand for the Jaguars early on, meanwhile Hadley Wragge was the spark for the Bluejays.

Howells-Dodge led by as many as 11 points after freshman Kylie Brichacek scored eight straight points for the Jaguars.

Pierce didn't go away easily, though. Skylar Scholting and Hadley Wragge helped propel the Bluejays back within four points in the fourth quarter.

That wasn't enough, as Natalie Pieper and Jordyn Ratzlaff iced the game with free throws and held on for the 47-39 victory.

Howells-Dodge was tremendous from the three-point line, knocking down eight triples compared to Pierce's two three's.

Ratzlaff finished the game with 14 points, Kylie Brichacek had 9 and Kenadie Throener finished with 8 for Howells-Dodge.

For Pierce, Hadley Wragge and Skylar Scholting had 12 points each. Abbie Cone finished with 8 points for the Jays.

The Jaguars open up the 2023-24 campaign at 1-0, while Pierce starts 0-1.