EDWARDSBURG — As it was raining outside of Edwardsburg High School Friday night, inside the gym and on the court, another kind of rain was falling.

Within the first minute and a half of play, three Edwardsburg players made three consecutive 3-point shots one after the other in a routine-like fashion. 

Senior Colby Sidenbender started the streak, followed by junior Jaylynn Luster and senior Connor Nelson.

That momentum, and early 9-0 lead over Vicksburg, carried the Eddies to a 53-43 win over their Wolverine South Division opponent Friday night.

“Getting off to a great start is always important,” said veteran coach Steve Wright. “Hitting those shots are huge, and then [Vicksburg] kind of flipped the script on us. They had a terrific second quarter. We didn’t, but having a great start was huge for us and picks up the momentum on defense too when you hit a few shots early.”

Vicksburg got on the board with just two minutes remaining in the first quarter as Eddies played a strong defensive game, and ended the quarter still holding onto that nine-point lead.

In the second quarter, Vicksburg scored 13 points as Eddies started to lose momentum, and Vicksburg’s center, Brady Brown, started making shots at the post.

The Eddies headed into the locker room with a small 25-20 lead at the intermission.

In the third quarter, Edwardsburg junior Max Hafner, who ended the game with a team-high eight points, shut down Brown. Also in the fourth quarter, Vicksburg’s foul trouble handed the Eddies free-throw opportunities, which they were able to capitalize.

“I thought we had a good third and pretty solid fourth quarter, and we hit some shots in the end,” Wright said. “All in all, I was pleased with the effort. We got to hit a few more shots when we are open. We did what we could do to win and hit those free throws in the end.”

Besides Hafner, Sidenbender and Luster added seven points each.

The Edwardsburg girls continued to dominate Wolverine play with a 68-35 win over Vicksburg, that began right from the start.

Senior Claire Bartz scored a game-high 17 points, followed by sophomore Macey Laubach, who added 14 points. Offensively, the Eddies dominated Vicksburg early with a 15-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.

“I thought our girls did a great job of getting the ball up the court, pushing it, finding open teammates and being very unselfish,” said Edwardsburg coach Jon Pobuda.

On the other side of the ball, Pobuda said his team defensively needed to clean up its rotations and contest Vicksburg’s 3-point shots.

“They had a good shooter, and we weren’t getting to her,” he said.

In the second half, the Eddies focused on getting to more rebounds and making free throws, both of which Pobuda had discussed with his team at halftime.

This season, the Eddies have young talent contributing on the court. Of the team’s five starters, three are sophomores, including Laubach, Katie Schaible and Ella Castelucci. Freshman Averie Markel also comes off the bench for the Eddies.

“You know, being young, it’s just about being consistent,” Pobuda said. “They are still figuring things out, and it’s nice with these games because we can let them play through the mistakes. We are trying to get them to learn through their mistakes and then forget about them. We like to hang onto those mistakes for a little while, and it impacts us to the next play. We just got to move on and forget and have a clear head if we make a mistake.”