It took about eight minutes for the Placer High girls to heat up in chilly Earl Crabbe Gym Tuesday night. Once they did, visiting Union Mine was in trouble.

The Lady Hillmen ran away with a 54-24 victory as senior Melissa Manning dominated in the paint and Placer got balanced scoring from the outside after a rough five-point first quarter.

Manning finished with 13 points and nine rebounds, including six offensive boards as the Lady Hillmen improved to 4-8 on the season.

“We just had a very slow start,” Placer coach Tony Camillucci said. “They were playing a soft zone and in the second quarter we just started hitting shots. We started going inside and Manning did a nice job converting. Nikki Johnson hit a 3 in the second quarter that kind of sparked us.”

Placer outscored the Diamondbacks 20-11 in the second quarter and 14-4 in the third to take command. Senior Kelsey Lardner finished with 10 points for the Lady Hillmen, who will host Rocklin on Jan. 2 before jumping into Pioneer Valley League play.