GLIDDEN — The St. Edmond girls put together their best overall performance of the season at the perfect time here Thursday night.

Sent on the road to open postseason play, the Gaels blitzed Glidden-Ralston, 67-30, in a Class 1A, Region 2 opener.

Next up for St. Edmond (5-17 overall) will be second-ranked Newell-Fonda on Tuesday. The Mustangs (19-2) received a bye into the quarterfinals.

Chloe Palmer had a career-high 18 points to lead four players in double figures. Josie Harvey added 13, Payton Bradley 11 and Anna Lursen 10.

“We came out and knew we wanted to be aggressive,” SEHS head coach CJ Tracy said. “Playing in the North Central Conference prepared us for this. We put our press on them and pushed the ball. The girls were aggressive, played smart defense, attacked the basket and hit open shots.

“I am so proud of them and happy for them. It’s a fun group to be around and I told them to enjoy it and they are.”

St. Edmond jumped out to a 36-17 lead at the half and held the Wildcats (5-17) to just four points in the third to build a commanding 58-21 advantage.

“We’ve dealt with a lot of adversity this season,” Tracy said. “We started out good, had to overcome an injury to Maya (Neverman) and the loss of Payton for a few weeks, but we are as healthy as we are going to be.

“This is the team we should have seen all year.”

Glidden-Ralston was paced by senior Tiela Janssen’s 16 points.

The 67 points are the most in a game for the Gaels since 2021 when they downed Ankeny Christian in a regional contest, 58-22. It is also the highest single-game total since 2017 when they topped Eagle Grove, 68-44.

On the other side of the region will be BCLUW (14-8) vs. AGWSR (12-9), who topped Baxter last night, 35-14.

ST. EDMOND 67, GLIDDEN-RALSTON 30

St. Edmond — Anna Lursen 10, Payton Bradley 11, Chloe Palmer 18, Kaili Henning 4, Sophia Schlienz 5, Ava Underberg 3, Josie Harvey 13, Ava Andrew 1.

Glidden-Ralston — Kassidy Wenck 3, Tiela Janssen 16, Allison Snyder 1, Brileigh Bock 8, Brenna Bowman 2.

Quarter scores: St. Edmond led 21-10, 36-17, 58-21.