The Wallkill girls’ basketball team got off to a slow offensive start, but the Panthers got things rolling in the second quarter and ran off to a 53-38 win over the Red Hook Raiders on Saturday night in the opening round of the Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament at Wallkill Senior High School.

“We definitely didn’t shoot too well, like we usually shoot,” Wallkill coach A.J. Higby said. “(Emma) Spindler and Zoe (Mesuch) are usually the ones who are going to lead us, and they didn’t. But Sam Dembinsky has been playing out of her mind. She’s playing really great basketball.”

The tournament will continue on December 30 when the Panthers host the Pine Bush Bushmen in the championship game at 6 p.m. They defeated the Valley Central Vikings in the other tournament game. The Vikings and Raiders will square off at 2:30 p.m. The Panthers and Bushmen will meet at 6 p.m.

The Panthers fell behind early, but a 22-8 second quarter put the Panthers on a course toward victory, and it was the defense that propelled the offense.

“We gave up way too much (in the first quarter),” Higby said. “I wasn’t enthused by our first-quarter defense, that’s for sure. But that’s because we’re not used to anyone being able to shoot like we shoot. We didn’t shoot like that. That’s a good team, so it’s going to make it difficult.”

Mesuch grabbed a steal and went coast-to-coast for a layup, starting an 11-0 run that gave the Panthers a 26-17 lead. Six of those points came in the space of a minute, as Alex Dembinsky broke a 17-17 tie and Spindler scored two straight baskets to create some distance. Mesuch knocked down a 3-pointer to finish the run before it was broken by a Red Hook’s Emilie Kent.

Mesuch got going in the second half and led the Panthers with a team-high 20 points. Her older sister, Grace Mesuch, also knocked down a couple of key 3-pointers. Spindler didn’t hit from outside but hit several key baskets underneath on her way to eight points.

“We started making sure we were moving the ball around and using everybody,” Higby said. “(Spindler) was worried that she didn’t make any shots. Are you kidding me? She does so much out on that floor, played their best player.”

Red Hook’s best player, Kent, scored eight points.

The Panthers, who recently played some tough games in Brooklyn, were scheduled to host Class AA power Warwick on Monday before heading upstate over the Holiday recess and then returning home to finish the Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament.