MACOMB, Ill. - Western Illinois (1-0) women's basketball opened the 2011-12 season inside Western Hall against Hannibal-LaGrange (3-2) on Friday night (Nov. 11). Western used sharp shooting and impressive defense to transition into its fast pace game to give head coach JD Gravina his first win as a Leatherneck, 87-65.

"We found that balance that we worked on all week between being aggressive and being relaxed," stated Gravina. "We showed improvement out of it, I don't know if we showed that much improvement. They were pressuring and they have a couple really good athletes on their team. I was really proud and to me that was the definition of a team win."

Hannibal-LaGrange is five games into its season but Friday's contest will go in the books as an exhibition for the visitors.

The 87 points was the most scored by a Leatherneck team since Dec. 18, 2005 (109 vs. Illinois Springfield).

"It's amazing the improvements we made in a week," continued Gravina. I told the girls in the locker room how incredibly coachable they are. We pressured them and again they have some good ball handlers on the team but we were able to force some tough turnovers and that really got us going. Every girl that came off the bench they played great defense."

Eleven Leathernecks scored on the night and Sadie Webb led the way with 19 points and nine rebounds. The Leathernecks scored 36 points off the 25 Hannibal-LaGrange turnovers including an 18-0 edge in fastbreak points.

The transition game was working early for the Leathernecks as a Michele Salvatori fastbreak layup gave Western a 14-6 lead five minutes into the first half.

The Trojans were forced to use a timeout with just over 12 minutes remaining in the first half as the Leathernecks fast pace had stretched the home lead to 18-8.

Valencia Kelly drained back-to-back jumpers to extend the lead to 24-12.

Saule Kontautaite converted her first three-point attempt of the night to give Western a 39-21 lead with 1:15 left in the first half.

At the break, the Leathernecks led the Trojans 39-26 powered by 47 percent shooting from the field and 11 points off the bench.

Webb paced the Western with 13 first half points and seven boards. Kelly chipped in eight points while Salvatori poured in five during the first half.

A steal and fastbreak basket from Rebecca Henricson gave Western its largest lead of the night at that point, 50-30, with 15:30 left in the game.

A three-point play from Salvatori gave Western a 65-47 lead with 10 minutes remaining.

The Leathernecks  led by as many as 28 points following a Saule Kontautaite three-pointer at the 6:13 mark.

To go along with Webb's 19 points Salvatori collected 16 points and Kelly contributed 15.

Ashleigh Spencer paced the Trojans with 17 points while Ashley Wilson turned in a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

From the field Western shot 47 percent (31-66) for the night and was 10-16 from behind the arc (63 percent). The 10 three-pointers were the most since Dec. 12, 2009 (14 vs. Illinois Springfield).