Sisters Noa Martin Vilela Rego, left, of Salem, and Ines Vilela Rego, right, of United are pictured before the start of Tuesday night’s varsity girls basketball game in Salem’s John A. Cabas Gymnasium. (Photo by Mike Brown)

SALEM — From Spain to the United States.

Exchange student sisters — Noa Martin Vilela Rego, who plays girls basketball for Salem, and Ines Vilela Rego, who plays for United — are learning and loving the sport on the high school level in America.

The Spanish twins are close, but on Tuesday night they found themselves as opponents for a couple hours when Salem hosted United in its home opener in John A. Cabas Gymnasium, a game won by Quakers, 45-21.

“She’s (Ines) has really done a good job,” praised United girls basketball coach Cory Leek. “She’s fit in with the girls really well. We’re really, really happy that she’s here.”

“Noa’s been a great addition to our program in the short time with us,” lauded Salem head coach Matt Mowery. “She’s very fundamental, I think she’s learning the American game, and it’s a huge learning curve than what she’s used to in Spain, but she’s probably the biggest hooper on our team. She loves the game and it’s nice to have her in our program and it was cool to see her and her sister go at it tonight.”

Both sisters are juniors and are used to playing together in Spain but wanted to have separate experiences in the United States. That’s how they ended up at separate but neighboring schools.

“We wanted to be at separate schools,” said Ines. “With all of our likes together, we wanted to have different experiences in different schools. It was just luck that we got to play against each other.”

Both players played against one another in both the Salem vs. United junior varsity and varsity games Tuesday. They each scored a point in the varsity contest and had several rebounds apiece.

“It’s really confusing,” smiled Ines of playing against her sister. “We’ve played together like all of our lives. We’ve always played basketball together.”

Her sister seconded that opinion.

“It was a little bit different (playing against her),” stated Noa.”You know, we always played on the same team, but it was fun going against her.”

Both sisters, who have been playing basketball for four years, talked about the differences in the sport between the United States and Spain.

“For example, the timeouts, we have to say to the table (we want a timeout) and we have to finish the play and then have a timeout,” noted Ines.

“I love it (basketball in the United States), it’s a little bit different, not too much though,” said Noa.

The sisters said they love their host families and how they have made so many friends already in Ohio.

“We have separate host families,” said Ines. “She’s with hers in Salem and I’m with mine in United. I came here in August and will be back (in Spain) in June. All the people are like really nice people here and playing basketball has me making more friends, and I love that.”

“The people are really nice,” added Noa. “I love the people.”

Now that they are here in the United States, both players were asked who their favorite player is in America?

“I really like a Spanish basketball player that’s playing in the NBA and his name is Santi Adama and he plays for the (Memphis) Grizzlies,” said Ines.

“LeBron James,” quickly answered Noa, without hesitation.

Noa added that basketball is very popular in Spain as well as the U.S.

“I would say soccer (is the No. 1 sport in Spain) but basketball is second, it’s really good,” she stated. “Basketball is pretty good in Spain, but not as much as soccer though.”

The sisters are not only outstanding basketball players but outstanding students as well.

“School here is much different,” said Noa. “It’s a little bit easier — in Spain it’s harder.”

Both sisters were cheerleaders in the fall and are already talking about what sport they plan to participate in during the spring.

“I did cheer and I’m thinking about doing tennis,” said Ines.

“I do cheer too and basketball, and then I’m thinking about doing track or softball, I don’t really know yet,” smiled Noa.

Whatever sports they choose, there’s little doubt the well-liked sisters will be popular with their teammates.

Game notes

Salem defeated United, 45-24, outscoring the Golden Eagles 17-4 in the fourth quarter.

With the win, Salem, which blasted Jefferson in its season opener last weekend, improved to 2-0.

With the setback, United is now 0-1.

Salem was paced by 5-10 junior standout Abby Knickerbocker with a game-high 19 points, while senior Maddy Andres added nine markers.

United was led by Maelee Smith with 13 points, while Isabella Thompson added 10.

Salem jumped out to a 14-6 lead after one quarter but watched as United, led by Thompson, who had 10 points in the first half, got as close as five points (16-11) with 3:50 showing before halftime. But Salem, which was led by Knickerbocker, who had nine points in the opening 16 minutes and Andres, who had 5 at the break, outscored the Golden Eagles 6-2 in the remaining time to take a 22-13 advantage at intermission.

Salem took as much as a 13-point (28-15) lead following a layup by Knickerbocker at the 6:30 mark of the third quarter, but United trimmed the deficit to 11 (28-17) by quarter’s end on a layup by Smith.

The Quakers raced out to a17-point lead (34-17) with 6:40 showing in the fourth on a layup by Knickerbocker and took its largest lead at 26 points (45-19) with two minutes left before United closed the final deficit to 21 points at 45-24.

Both Salem and United return to action next week. United will host Southern in its Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference opener on Monday, Salem will initiate Eastern Buckeye Conference play when it entertains the Alliance Aviators on Wednesday evening.

UN: 6-7-4-7–24

SA: 14-8-6-17–45

UNITED SCORING: Maelee Smith 5-3-13, Marin Stryffeler 0-0-0, Danika Anderson 0-0-0, McKenzie Cope 0-0-0, Isabella Thompson 2-4-10, Ines Vilela Rego 0-1-1, Reagan Good 0-0-0, Atlee Brinker 0-0-0. TEAM TOTALS: 7, 7-15: 24

SALEM SCORING: Noa Martin Vilela Rego 0-1-1, Karlie Sampson 1-0-2, Garryn Rohm 0-0-0, Shae Burkhart 0-0-0, Ava Lee 0-0-0, Peyton Colbert 1-1-3, Abby Knickerbocker 9-1-19, Ryann Vross 4-0-9, Olivia Lewis 0-0-0, Maddy Andres 4-0-9, Emilee Lewis 1-0-2. TEAM TOTALS: 20, 2-4: 45

Three-point goals: United 2 (Isabella Thompson 2); Salem 3 (Peyton Gilbert 1, Maddy Andres 1, Ryann Vross 1).

Total fouls: United 7, Salem 15. Fouled out: none.