T-L Photo/KIM NORTH RIVER’S ALLIE Long (33) drives to the basket Monday night inside the John J. Havlicek Gymnasium. Defending is Bridgeport’s Jessa Stockwell. Long had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds as the Pilots cruised, 54-14, to their first win of the season.

BRIDGEPORT — Something had to give Monday night when a pair of girls’ basketball teams that have struggled out of the gate met inside the John J. Havlicek Gymnasium.

Visiting River stormed out to a 16-0 lead after one quarter and never looked back in navigating its way to a 54-14 victory over Bridgeport. The strong start was the second for the Pilots (1-4) this season, but this time they were able to hold on.

“We needed this (win),” River head coach Rick Isaly admitted. “We talked about this week being a week where we could maybe get a couple of wins. We got the first tonight and we’ve got Frontier on Thursday and Magnolia on Saturday.

“We’ve still got a long way to go though. We had Bellaire 11-0 but then they pressed the heck out of us and we turned the ball over,” Isaly said. “We didn’t see much pressure tonight, but we didn’t expect it either according to our scouting reports.

“We’re still a work in progress and we will be with our youth,” he added. “It’s not going to come overnight, but we’re getting there.”

The Pilots were paced by freshman Delaney Boger who came off the bench when classmate Hannah Raper went down with a right ankle injury late in the first quarter. Boger knocked down a trio of three-point bombs and scored a game-high 13 points.

“Delaney played well for us tonight,” Isaly said of Boger. “She knocked down some big shots, as did Kylie (Piatt).” Piatt drilled four triples for 12 points.

Senior Allie Long, the lone starter back from last season’s 20-5 squad, was her solid self in the post. She scored 11 points and pulled down a like number of rebounds for a double-double.

“Allie was herself tonight,” Isaly noted. “She’s going to get her double-double on most nights. She’s a very hard worker inside.”

The Bulldogs (0-6), who missed their first seven shots of the contest, meshed just 5-of-36 field goal attempts. In addition, they were only able to convert 2-of-10 free throws.

“For the people that know me, I’m usually a pretty talkative person but right now I am at a loss for words,” Bridgeport head coach Greg Harkness said. “I don’t know what it is? I thought we had some pretty good looks at the basket … some layups and easy shots, but nothing would fall.”

Senior Jaren Tucker led Bridgeport with eight points.

The Bulldogs were guilty of 23 turnovers, with 15 of them being unforced. The Pilots committed 19 miscues, with all but one being unforced.

Isaly said it was too early to determine how bad Raper’s ankle injury was. He’s hoping she’ll be ready by Thursday.

Bridgeport hosts Steubenville Catholic on Thursday.