The Beecher Fall Classic was the stage for early-season girls basketball action on Tuesday with four area teams taking the floor, three of which doing so for the first time this season.

The only of these teams to pick up a win Tuesday was Manteno. The Panthers opened their season with a 53-47 win Bradley-Bourbonnais, sending the Boilermakers to 1-1 on the year, while Beecher and Peotone each took a loss on the other side of the building to open their seasons.

Manteno came out hot against a Boilermaker team fresh off a 42-19 win over Herscher on Monday, building up a 27-10 lead by the midway point of the second quarter before the Boilermakers clawed their way back into it.

Bradley-Bourbonnais closed the first half on a 9-0 run and outscored the Panthers 28-26 in the second half, but Manteno held on for the six-point win.

Manteno senior Emily Horath led the way with 14 points while Maddie Gesky and Lila Prindeville added 13 points apiece.

This trio were the teams top three scorers last season and highlights a strong returning class from a team that went 24-5 last season. Horath said it felt great to be back out on the floor Tuesday.

“Our team has so much grit and passion for this game,” she said. “We all work well together, have great chemistry and we’re glad to be back together and playing.”

Horath also helped lead an active defensive performance by the Panthers. She grabbed five steals of her own and got her hands on numerous passes to either lead to more turnovers or otherwise disrupt Boilermaker possessions. Manteno had 16 steals as a team

“It’s unfortunate that we don’t give deflections a stat in the book, because Emily would have a ton of those for us tonight,” head coach Bethany Stritar said. “Our defense is definitely very strong, and that’s going to cause other teams problems moving forward.”

Horath added a block in the fourth quarter to slow down Bradley-Bourbonnais’ comeback push.

She also was the beneficiary of a strong defensive play with just over a minute left when Alyssa Singleton blocked a 3-point attempt from Bradley-Bourbonnais’ Nat Coday, who was 5 of 9 from deep at that point. The block led directly to a Horath layup that made the score 49-38 instead of the possible 47-41.

Coday finished 5 of 10 from 3 to account for all 15 of her points. Abby Bonilla led the Boilermakers with 19 points, 17 of which came in the second half, while Leila Middlebrook added nine points.

“It took us about a quarter and a half to figure it out, but once we did that we went on a quick 9-0 run and cut the lead in half,” head coach Kevin Maciejewski said. “I’m proud of the girls for not folding. It could’ve gone the other way very quickly.”

Beecher got its season underway on its home floor Tuesday, falling 61-30 to TF North.

The young Bobcats come into the season with eight sophomores and three returning seniors. Sophomores Gianna Bonomo and Allie Johnson led the team with 15 and five points, respectively.

Head coach Adam Keen said the lack of experience led to a bit of a slow start, but he liked how the team adjusted.

“It really kind of started clicking in the second quarter,” he said. “I think we did a good job in the second quarter of kind of getting our feet under us and taking that fight on, which is what you want to see from a young team.”

Peotone also fell behind with a bit of a slow start in its eventual 49-37 loss to Oak Forest, but thanks to a 16-point fourth-quarter surge, managed to cut what had been a 20-point deficit to nine.

Freshman Payton Pape got her career underway with a team-high 12 points while Addison Brandau, Callie Weiss and Kiersten Bettenhausen each had six.

Head coach Shawn Bean said he was happy how the team managed to compete despite falling behind early.

“It was a deep valley we were trying to get ourselves out of,” he said. “They did a good job, though. They didn’t give up and I was super proud of them in the fourth quarter. If we play that way, we’re going to be tough for anybody to beat.”