Notre Dame girls basketball coach Cory Stephens asked senior Nadiya Jones to do three things for the Nikes this season — rebound, play defense and knock down open 3-pointers.

Jones did all three Tuesday, helping the Nikes to a 63-41 victory over crosstown rival West Burlington in an SEI Super Conference South Division season opener for both teams at Father Minett Gymnasium.

Jones knocked down three shots in the paint — two off inbounds passes from Taryn Stephens — and nailed three 3-pointers in the second half on her way to a career-high 15 points.

Considering she scored 46 points all of last season, all the hard work Jones put in during the summer already is paying big dividends.

“All summer I was shooting as many threes as I could at open gyms,” said the 5-foot-8 Jones. “They weren’t falling at first, so I got out at halftime and just started working on that. Working on my form to make it right.”

“This is her senior year. She wants it. She put in the work, and she deserves everything that she did tonight,” Cory Stephens said. “She did the three things that I asked her to do. She works on those shots.”

Notre Dame hurt the Nikes with a pair of inbounds plays in the first quarter.

“It’s just running the play right. With Taryn taking the ball out, I knew she would get it to me, just like in practice,” Jones said. “It got us some momentum to start the game.”

West Burlington, in its first game under coach Hannah Mello, kept the game close in the first half. Trailing by as many as 11 points, the Falcons crept back into the contest behind the scoring of Isabella Callison and Taryn Havener.

Callison, who scored 37 points last season, finished with a career-high 16 points, while Havener tallied 15 points.

“Izzy has really worked hard down low,” said Mello, a 2008 graduate of West Burlington. “She’s come a long way and put in work with me outside of practice on her post game. She really wants to be a solid post player. I saw a lot of good things from her.”

Notre Dame’s experienced guards — Taryn Stephens, Anna Engberg and Lauren Krieger — took advantage of the less-experience Falcons’ backcourt, outscoring them 35-10. The Nikes’ quick hands and fast feet led to numerous turnovers and fast breaks as Notre Dame opened the lead in the second half.

A 12-2 run to open the second half gave the Nikes a 39-21 lead and some breathing room.

“The second half we pressured a lot more,” Coach Stephens said. “Obviously I was a lot happier with our performance in the second half with our defense. The girls got after it. They were just kind of going through the motions in the first half. They played much better the second half.”

Mello was encouraged by what she saw from her team. It is a work in progress and gives West Burlington a base to work from heading into Friday’s home opener against Holy Trinity.

“It’s only up from here,” Mello said. “We have a few kinks to work out. They’re still getting used to me and I’m still getting used to them. I feel like we played a lot better than we did in a previous scrimmage that we had. We expect to lose a few games early while we get used to each other. We want to be solid and a team to be scared of at the end of the season"