There is no such thing as a free lunch, but if you watched Weatherly's girls basketball team gobble up points and force turnovers, you might get that impression.

Panther Valley wasn't handing out dishes or desserts, but it was struggling a whole bunch throughout a rough opening first half. The Panthers struggled to solve a pressing Lady Wreckers' defense and, on the occasions they did, found baskets hard to convert,In a quick flurry of defensive play, Weatherly immediately stomped all over the Panthers en route to a non-league season opening 47-16 thrashing on Tuesday evening.Forcing the action with a full court press to start, Weatherly roared to a 22-0 lead after eight minutes, before coasting home to remainder of the way.Weatherly made it look far too easy while Panther Valley made it look confusing with 18 turnovers."Yes it was a good start," smiled Kevin Kringe the second-year coach at Weatherly. "I couldn't ask for a better start. We got the press cooking, got a couple of easy baskets off of that … it was real nice for us."To be sure, Weatherly doesn't have a lot of big trees in its forest, so it works well for a pressing attack."As you can see, we're not big so we have to take advantage of what we have," said Kringe.There was balance throughout the scoring attack for the Wreckers. Veteran Shelby Berger knocked home 15 points for game honors, followed by a pair of promising freshmen. Megan Peifer drained 13 in her varsity debut and Emily Zoscin dropped in nine on her first night on the varsity stage."Those two are going to be very special," Kringe said of Peifer and Zoscin. "But we must rely on our senior leadership to carry us early. Berger can guide us along with Jackie Gillott until we get those young kids some confidence."There seemed no need to worry about stage fright for the newbies. Peifer and Zoscin combined for the first six Weatherly points, before Berger drained two straight shots, for a 10-0 getaway."We need to run around out there and make things happen," Kringe explained. "It helps to have two talented freshmen, but it is also important that our veteran leaders show them the way."Burger and Peifer both had six points in the opening period. The Panthers finally dented the scoreboard on a Rachel Filer fastbreak bucket in the second quarter, but Zoscin and Berger answered and by the half the Wreckers were up 31-6 and had put it in neutral to glide home in the second half.INEXPERIENCED PANTHERS ... Christina Dacey, Panther Valley's only returning starter, had six points. She shared team high scoring honors with Filer.UP NEXT ... "It's a good start, but we have our work cut out for us from here. It starts with our next game (Thursday) at Mahanoy Area," Kringe said. Panther Valley will also be in action Thursday when it travels to Lehighton.PANTHER VALLEYDacey 2-2-2-6, Filer 2-2-2-6, Weaver 1-0-0-2, Picht 1-0-1-2, Markovich 0-0-2-0, Miller 0-0-2-0, Williams 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 6-4-9-16.WEATHERLYBerger 7-1-1-15, Peifer 6-1-1-13, Zoscin 3-3-6-9, Caravella 1-0-0-2, DeSpirito 1-0-0-2, Gower 1-0-0-2, Henry 1-0-0-2, Gillott 1-0-0-2, Hinkle 0-0-0-0, Ache 0-0-0-0, Hernandez 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 21-5-8-47.Panther Valley 0 4 6 6 - 16Weatherly 22 9 10 6 - 47Three-pointers: None.