The second-seeded Higbee girls made easy work of seventh-seeded Wellsville-Middletown Monday night, 78-27, in the opening game of the Class 1 District 10 Tournament in Madison.

Senior Lauren Spilman and freshman Ava Welch combined for 49 points as the two continue to climb in the state record books.

Already known for her sharpshooting, Spilman eclipsed 300 career 3-pointers on Monday, putting her ninth on the state’s all-time 3-point shooting list. She scored 23 points against Wellsville-Middletown with three triples.

Welch continues to turn heads and is currently 14th on the all-time freshman scoring list with 629 points and counting in her debut season after banking a game-high 26 points in Monday night’s opener.

The Lady Tigers dominated from the tipoff, outscoring WM 26-4 in the opening frame and holding the seventh-seed to single digits in each of the four quarters.

“When you score 78 points, it’s weird saying shots didn’t fall,” said Higbee coach Tanner Burton. “We had some spurts of the ball not falling in, and I think it was Ava’s first game without a made three.”

Along with Welch and Spilman, seven Higbee players contributed to the scorebook. Juniors Natalie Ritter and Kiersten Rockett scored eight points apiece. Junior Brooke Dougherty added six, with five points from freshman Kylie Sinklear and two from sophomore Kayla Schaedel. The Tigers made eight shots from the arc and went 4-for-10 from the line.

“I thought that the girls spread out some offense tonight, and I feel like doing that will put pressure on opposing teams down the stretch,” Burton said.

The Tigers, now 19-8 overall, will face third-seeded Community (14-12) in the semifinals tonight (Wednesday). Tipoff is at 7:15 p.m.

Higbee defeated Community twice in the previous two seasons, both times in the district tournament. The Lady Trojans ended a three-game losing skid at the end of the regular season to cruise past sixth-seeded Madison 62-24 in Monday’s opening round.

Tonight’s winner will advance to the tournament championship against either first-seeded Cairo, which received a first-round bye, or fourth-seeded Bucklin/Macon County, which knocked off fifth-seeded Beiver 55-29 on Monday.

Higbee has thus far been denied a district title, even after winning no less than 19 games in each of the prior four seasons. Cairo has won four straight district championships and finished runner-up in the state the past two seasons.

Higbee and Cairo have only played twice before, the last game being for the district title a year ago, when the Trojans won 64-50.