RALEIGH--In Athens Drive's first game, the girl's varsity basketball team turned the ball over too much for the liking of coach Chris Danehower. The next day, he spent a half hour working on avoiding travels in practice. It apparently worked Thursday night.

In a clean, dominating performance, the Jaguars stifled Sanderson and used the high-low combo of senior Alyx Ingram and junior Keisha Gatling to grab a 61-42 win.

Ingram finished with 17 points, while Gatling grabbed 13 points. But more than his star players, Danehower was proud of his team's ball protection.

"We had fewer travels tonight and that's been a big focus in practice all week," Danehower said.

Sanderson coach Marcus Davis had the opposite reaction. The Jaguar defense forced Sanderson's girls into too many turnovers and kept their attack on the perimeter.

"There were too many turnovers," Davis said. "We never got into an offensive rhythm and just had poor offensive execution. They're a very good team and we were in our own way tonight."

Athens Drive rode Ingram's penetration ability to easy baskets throughout the game -- setting screens and letting the senior forward drive to the hoop.

"She did a really good job of curling and coming off of screens and reading their cuts and how their defense was playing," Danehower said. "One of the good things about the offense we run is we have the ability to score from every position on the court and the players do a very good job of just working together."

If the cuts weren't coming, Athens pounded the ball inside to Gatling, the Jaguars' 6'3 center.

"We like to go the high-low from the wing and we do a good job of getting it inside and Keisha does a good job finishing," Danehower said.

And Gatling wasn't just dominant on the offensive end. Her size prevented Sanderson from moving the ball inside and grabbing rebounds.

"The lack of size was a big problem, boxing out was a big problem," Davis said. "We got into a jumping match with a 6'3 player, and she's good."

Gatling said she worked hard over the offseason, both with her dad and her AAU coaches, on refining her post play. And though she's only a junior, scouts have already been to games and checked her out.

"I've been looking at Charlotte, UNC-Greensboro, James Madison, and that's about it for now," Gatling said, adding that she hopes to be hearing from the Triangle's schools this season.

Danehower was happy to see the improvement on turnovers from one game to the next, especially this early in the season. And with a 4-0 start to the early season, he's hoping to see the trend continue and find consistency out of his team.

"We did a much better job tonight on not turning the ball over than we did the other night," Danehower said. "We're just looking for continuity and consistency."