SYRACUSE — The Class 3A high school girls basketball sectional at Wawasee got underway Tuesday evening with the host Warriors and the Fairfield Falcons recording opening-night wins.

Junior KiLee Knafel netted 22 points for the Warriors in a 38-34 win over the Lakeland Lakers in the evening’s first game. Senior Haley Bechtel tossed in 16 points and sophomore Haley Brown 12 for the Falcons in a 62-43 victory over the Tippecanoe Valley Vikings in the program’s first-ever game at the 3A after moving up from 2A.

Action continues on Friday with West Noble (12-9) meeting Wawasee (6-15) at 6 p.m. followed by No. 3 ranked NorthWood (19-3) facing Fairfield (16-5) around 7:45.

The championship is Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Fairfield followed coach Steve Proctor’s game plan and got off to a good start against Valley. The score was tied 4-4 when the Falcons went on a 7-0 run. Bechtel had a 3-pointer at 3:31, Brown a bucket at 2:51 and senior Megan Beasley a basket at 2:47.

“Every tape we had of Tippy Valley they got off to a fast start,” the coach said. “Our plan was to hold them down and start out well. The girls did a good job of executing that.

“Our defense in the first half was tremendous. It was not as good in the second half, but it was good enough to win.”

Valley senior Staci Groom, who entered the game averaging 21.8 points per game, scored 19, but 11 came in the fourth period after Fairfield had built a 40-26 lead.

“Groom is a good player, but (senior Becca) Kropf is one of the best defenders in the state,” Proctor said.

Groom was 4-of-25 shooting and 9-of-13 from the free-throw line.

“Fairfield is a solid team that hit their free throws down the stretch,” Valley coach Chris Kindig said. “The  Falcons played very good defense especially in the first half.”

Fairfield had a 12-5 lead early in the second period before Beasley, Bechtel and Kropf all found themselves on the bench after picking up their second personal fouls. The Vikings pulled to within three points (14-11) but the Falcons went on to lead 18-13 at halftime.

Bechtel looked good in just her third game of the season. She suffered a tore ACL on Sept. 27 in a volleyball match at Elkhart Memorial.

“I was not expecting Becthel to look as good as she did,” Kindig said. “She looks like she never had a knee injury. Becthel and Brown make a tough 1-2 punch inside.”

Brown also blocked four shots.

“When Bechtel gets in the open court she can still finish plays,” Proctor said. “She hit some clutch shots for us. Brown had a great game for us.”

Beasley and Kropf finished with eight points apiece for the Falcons. Kropf had team highs of four assists and three steals.

Valley ends the season 15-6.

In the first game, Knafel tossed in 10 points in the first period as Wawasee led 16-6 at the first stop. The Warriors were up 11-3 at halftime and 28-19 after three quarters.

Wawasee was leading 34-22 with 4:40 remaining only to have the Lakers go on a 12-2 run for a 36-34 score with :33 left to play

“We let it get a lot closer at the end than we wanted,” Wawasee coach Kem Zolman said. “But I was proud of the way the girls withstood the Lakeland run and maybe our young team grew up some tonight.”

Two points was as close as the Lakers got as junior Alexis Blunk hit a freebie at :23 and Knafel one at :11 to seal the victory.

“In the third and fourth quarters the girls turned things up,” Laker coach Kati Todd said. “They showed how badly they wanted to win. We battled against a team that we lost to by 40 points during the season.”

The Warriors were 66-25 winners back on Nov. 15.

“This is the second season and regular season games don’t mean anything,” Zolman said.

Knafel went cold from the filed in the second half but was 5-of-6 from the free-throw line.

Senior Lauren McKibben finished with nine points, freshman Abigail Thompson eight and junior Morgan Myers five for the Lakers (5-16).