If there’s a problem with winning by 53 points — to be sure, there’s few — Free State High girls’ basketball coach Bryan Duncan knows what it is.

“The only problem with winning big early is overconfidence,” Duncan said. “We know the schedule gets a little more difficult down the road.”

A 72-19 victory against Kansas City Wyandotte on Thursday at Free State might have been Duncan’s first as a varsity head coach, but it’s clear he knows it’s a long season.

The Bulldogs were overmatched from the tipoff, having trouble even bringing the ball across halfcourt against the Firebirds’ full-court press. Wyandotte (0-1) couldn’t even get off a shot until Free State (1-0) opened a 10-0 lead. That edge turned into a 40-8 halftime advantage, with Free State missing more shots (14) than the Bulldogs could take (11).

Certainly a dominating performance, but Duncan said it was all according to plan.

“I thought we were excellent on the defensive end of the floor, though we know there’s always room for improvement,” he said. “Day one we stressed going in pressing teams. Most of our offense will be created with our defense.”

That defense led to 33 Firebird steals and 48 Bulldog turnovers, most of which were turned into easy buckets. FSHS did so much running up and down the court that junior Kirby Beneventi — who had 16 points and 10 steals — found herself sucking air at times.

Free State High head coach Bryan Duncan talks to his players during a timeout against Kansas City Wyandotte. Duncan made his varsity head-coaching debut in the Firebirds' 72-19 victory Thursday night at the FSHS gym.

“The first quarter I got a little winded running up and down,” Beneventi said. “But we really like to run. That’s one of our strong points as a team.”

FSHS sophomore Jamie Stanclift led all scorers with 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting, while Emilie Humbarger added 10 points.

The Firebirds had 12 players score, helping a relatively young team — they only have two seniors — snag varsity playing time.

“We were able to get all 13 girls into a varsity basketball game,” Duncan said. “We also played a lot of girls in five quarters tonight. We want them to get a lot of on-court experience. That’s big.”

Free State plays host to Junction City at 7 p.m. Dec. 13 at the FSHS gym.

Free State's Lauren Abney makes a pass around Kansas City Wyandotte's Sade Garr. The Firebirds won, 72-19, Thursday night at Free State.