It was a double debut showing in the Thomas Jefferson High School gymnasium Monday.

For the Raiders it was an impressive non-league overall season opener that ended as a 60-47 win, while for the Todd Beamer Titans they were still pleased with the team's effort in the loss.

"I'm not worried, I'm excited," said Beamer head coach Heather Sugg. "It was a good first outing. We did a lot of good things. We played well for missing two starters."

Assistant coach Rick Daley agreed.

"From one year ago to now, we've made vast improvements," he said. "Our attitudes were great."

Starring for the Titans was 5-foot, 5-inch junior Shyla Akins, who swished in a game-high 28 points.

Hannah Kiyohara, a 5-8 senior guard, led the Raiders to the win with 21 points.

"There was some good stuff," said TJ head coach Jerry Krueger. "We had a good solid effort. There was a lot of mistakes, but they were first game things. Hannah Kiyohara was her usual self. She has the ability to do things with the ball."

Backing Kiyohara up with 14 points was 5-9 freshman guard Jada Piper.

"It was nice to see our freshman come out and have a good game," Krueger said.

Senior post Unique Taufa'asau added 12 points and 5-9 sophomore guard Christina Kullberg scored eight. Adding two points apiece were 5-3 senior guard Karen Carpenter and 5-9 post Soni Palvi as 5-8 senior guard Raelynn Pulliam chipped in one.

Codie Obungen, a 5-4 junior guard, scored eight points behind Akins' stellar effort. TreAuna Culp, a 5-5 sophomore guard, hit five points as 6-1 senior post Taylor Winton scored four and 6-1 junior post Rebekah Young hit two.

Other Raiders are 5-6 sophomore guard Lexi Goranson, 5-2 sophomore guard Hannah Friedman, 5-9 sophomore guard Lindsey Dahl, 5-8 senior post Danielle Whitcomb and 5-11 junior post Ikram Yusuf.

Also playing for Beamer are 5-6 junior guard Frantasia Johnson, 5-8 junior post Sherie Greene, 5-7 senior guard Mercedes Sullivan, 6-1 sophomore post Meghan Graf, 5-8 senior post/wing Jessika Sutcliff, 5-6 senior wing Madison Wood and 5-9 junior post/wing Katie Bixenman. Sutcliff and Bixenman both started in Monday's game.

TJ jumped out to an 8-0 lead, with Kiyohara hitting a three-point shot to get things started with only 15 seconds elapsed in the game.
Taufa'asau added a pair of free throws, Kullberg hit a putback and Piper made one of two free throws.

After Akins hit two at the line for Beamer to break the string, Taufa'asua scored two points and Kiyohara hit another three to make it 13-2.
Akins answered with six-straight points for the Titans, but from there TJ added four points to end the quarter -- including a buzzer beater by Kiyohara -- and Piper scored six-straight to open the second quarter and make it 23-8.

The Raiders never trailed from there, with the closest Beamer came being eight points at 23-15.

TJ took off again from there.

"It was a good hard effort, and I was proud," said Krueger of his Raiders. "Now we have a lot of work to do to get better."