Lourdes tipped off its 2023-2024 season on Saturday afternoon, celebrating Homecoming weekend with a 67-50 victory over Adrian inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.
 
"We had excellent energy and teamwork to start off the season," head coach Tandy Bradford said afterwards.  "We executed well enough to utilize not just our depth, but our entire bench.  It shows the culture of work that this team wants to pursue to support each other day in and day out.  There are always areas we will review and work on to get better at as each game ahead will present new challenges.  We know our team will be ready for the challenges and excited for each game."
 
Shae Pedroza (Napoleon, Ohio/Napoleon H.S.) scored a game-high 13 points, 11 of which came in the first half, and added four steals to lead the Gray Wolves while Maddie Norton (Temperance, Mich./Bedford H.S.) came off the bench to add eight points on 4-of-4 shooting.
 
Tied at 13 with two minutes to play in the opening period, Lourdes scored the final 10 points of the stanza before opening the second quarter with seven more points for a 17-0 run to take control of the game.  The Gray Wolves held the Bulldogs scoreless for eight minutes spanning the two periods and built a 37-17 lead at halftime.
 
After Adrian cut the lead to 16 in the third, Lourdes extended the lead to 24 before the end of the quarter and led by as many as 27 in the fourth before the Bulldogs went on a late 12-2 run.
 
Lourdes shot 42.3% from the floor for the game while the defense forced 28 Bulldog turnovers.
 
Emma Pedroza (Napoleon, Ohio/Napoleon H.S.) led Lourdes on the glass pulling down seven rebounds while also tallying four steals defensively.
 
Kylie Skidmore led Adrian, which was playing the game as an exhibition contest, with 13 points and four steals.
 
Lourdes (1-0) takes to the road on Friday evening as the Gray Wolves travel to Mount Vernon, Ohio to face Mount Vernon Nazarene.  Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. inside Ariel Arena.