The Lady Scots built up some confidence by rolling past New Brighton in the opening round of the Union Athletic Boosters Holiday Tournament.

“We played well,” first-year Union coach Larry Ondako said. “We did a lot of things right. We didn’t accidentally score 48 points. They’re big and they’re tall. They’re double-A. We were playing a bigger school and we took it to them instead of seeing what happened. This is a big positive for our girls. They saw they could do it.”

The Lady Scots (2-6) will play Laurel (5-4) at 6 tonight in the title game, while New Brighton (0-7) will match wits with Wilmington (6-2) at 3 p.m. in the consolation game.

“We improved a lot since our game with Mohawk last week and we were awful in that game,” Ondako said. “I don’t know if we’re ready for Laurel, but this was a good game for us to play. When you struggle to score like we do, it allows the girls to get some confidence. This was definitely a step in the right direction.”

The Lady Scots limited New Brighton to four points in the first quarter and six apiece in the third and fourth quarters.

“Honestly, we’ve played good defense all year, but our offense has been the other team’s best offense,” Ondako said. “We have good position and we box out well. If we have the opportunity to set up our defense, we do a good job. Like I said, our offense has been the other team’s best offense and you can’t defend that.

Union turned a 10-4 lead in the first quarter into a 31-16 halftime lead by nailing 9-of-12 free throws in the second quarter.

The Lady Scots offense was paced by a trio double-digit scorers with Hannah Booth leading the way with 19 points. Tyanna Harris was next with 12 and Skylar Thompson added 10.

“Our biggest thing has been our confidence level,” Ondako said. “I don’t think they believed they could do it. I think they’re finally getting it.”