After going 21-11 last season, there was no way the Minooka girls basketball team was going to sneak up on anyone this season. Not with one of the best players in the area in Madelyn Kiper.

But this kind of dominance was perhaps not expected.

Following Saturday afternoon’s 50-28 demolition of Morris, the Indians are 11-1 this season. Their only loss was to the other dominant team in the area, Providence. It came a week into the season at the WJOL championship game.

The season-opening 64-61 victory over Joliet Catholic was their closest win, with eight of their 11 wins coming by double-digits. They’ve only gotten better as the year’s gone on, too, rattling off five consecutive double-digit wins.

“The girls are really playing hard,” Minooka coach John Placher said. “The defense has been really good, and they’re really locking in. Everyone is starting to know their roles here midseason, and it’s good to see.”

It goes without saying that winning is much easier when Kiper is on the team. The Kent State commit scored 29 points Saturday, including 14 of the Indians’ first 16. And she scored her 29 in just three quarters.

However, there are five players on the court at all times for a reason. Kiper is far from a one-girl show, as Saturday showed. While Kiper had 14 of the team’s 21 points in the first quarter, Kendall Thomas scored the other seven. Saddie Webb added six for the Indians, and the team defense shut down Morris.

“It felt pretty good today,” Kiper said. “It was a big team win for us, and we’ve been playing a lot better as a team lately.”

That suffocating defense was most evident in the first quarter. After baskets by Kiper and Thomas to start, Alyssa Jepson scored on a layup for Morris 2:27 into the contest. Morris didn’t score again for the rest of the period as Kiper and company kept the onslaught going, leading 21-2 entering the second.

Tessa Shannon finally ended the scoring drought for Morris just a few seconds into the second quarter, but Webb answered four seconds later with a layup, and it didn’t get easier for Morris from there. They managed to get as close as 25-8, but a Kiper 3 stretched the lead back to 20 midway through the period. The Indians led 30-13 at the half.

Things didn’t change in the second half. The offense remained red hot for the Indians, and the defense held Morris to five points. Minooka led 46-18 entering the fourth, with Kiper having scored 29 points to Morris’ 18 points.

Kiper and the other regulars went to the bench in the fourth quarter, allowing Morris to make it a tad closer. The result was no longer in question at that point, however, as the Indians kept cruising. Despite not playing the fourth quarter, Kiper still finished with more points than Morris.

“I started out shooting well, so it felt good,” Kiper said. “I knew after the start it was going to be a good night for me.”

Morris was led by Lily Hansen with 12 points, while Jepson had nine.