If the season opener was any indication, there will be some tight battles in the senior girls' division of the Moose Jaw High School Senior Basketball League this season.

The Peacock Toilers, winners of eight straight league titles, were given everything that they could handle by the Central Cyclones before pulling out an 82-65 win on Tuesday night.

"We started out really strong, we came in with nothing to lose, they're coming off the city championship last year, so we wanted to get back into it and start out strong in our first league game, it was a good way to start," said Central senior guard Kirstie Johnstone, who finished with eight points in the loss.

"We know we can compete now and they know we can compete, so it should be a good season ahead of us."

Central came out strong and led Peacock, 17-15, after the first quarter, but the Toilers found their footing in the second quarter to take a 41-30 advantage at halftime.

Peacock senior guard Piper Ingalls said overall it was a strong start for them, "I thought we played really well, we were a little slow at the start, but then we started getting things rolling on offence," she said.

"Once we stopped playing lazy on defence, our offence started rolling."

Peacock senior guard Piper Ingalls drives to the basket during Tuesday's season opener against the Central Cyclones. (Photo: Marc Smith)

Ingalls was one of four Toilers that scored in double digits in the victory as she finished with 16 points. Anna Maelde scored a game-high 17 points in the win, while Abby Busch added 16 and Megan MacDonald scored 13 for Peacock.

The Toilers are hoping to continue their reign on top of the senior girls' division this season and Ingalls said she likes the look of this year's team.

"We're a really strong team, we have a good chance with every team in the city," said Ingalls. "It was good to be pushed [by Central in the opener], it was a little scary, but it was good."

Cyclones grade 11 post Emily Blackmore finished with a team-high 17 points in the loss, while Nylah Seaborn picked up 14 points and Alexa Watterson chipped in with 11.

"We were taking care the ball a lot better tonight, we had a tournament this past weekend and we learned a lot from our first few games, so starting in our league game, we had to take care of the ball, especially against Peacock because they turn defence into offence," said Johnstone.

Peacock returns to the court next Tuesday to host the Assiniboia Rockets, while the Cyclones head out to Caronport to go up against the B.C.A. Cougars.

In the boys game on Tuesday, the Cyclones pulled off a 122-41 win over the Toilers. The games between Vanier and B.C.A. were postponed until Thursday due to the power outage that hit Saskatchewan on Tuesday.