Edwardsburg senior Alise Markel got her team off to a fast start against Sturgis Tuesday night, but she was unable to keep the Eddies from falling to the Trojans in a Wolverine Conference non-divisional girls basketball contest.

Markel scored nine of her 11 points in the first quarter, but it wasn’t enough as Sturgis rallied for a 52-44 victory.

“Alise is a senior. She is playing tough,” Edwardsburg coach Nicole Cartwright said. “She is determined. When she gets an open shot she is a good shooter. They left her open and she knocked them down.”

Markel is not close to being the biggest player on the court, but she had no trouble taking the ball to the basket against a pair of 6-foot-2 Trojans.

“I feel like it was time for a win and somebody has got to get us going,” Markel said. “It is my job as the captain to step up. I got down the court and found the open space. Reversing the ball to me helped quite a bit.”

The Eddies led 16-7 after one quarter and 20-12 at the half.

Sturgis (4-5) scored the first two baskets of the second half and set the tone for the final 16 minutes of play.

“I was just telling the girls, when things are going good we click,” Cartwright said. “We got a little tired and that kind of played a role as we gave up some easy baskets. We did a great job in the first half of keeping the ball out of the post. Our press was great. We stopped the ball from going deep. Third, fourth quarter we got tired and we made some mistakes both defensively and offensively.”

Markel’s 11 points led the Eddies, who also got eight points from Michaela Ritschard and Savannah Dixon.

“She was battling,” Cartwright said. “She is a senior and she wants to win. She is trying to teach the younger kids how it is done.”

Rachel Anderson, Sturgis’ 6-foot-2 center, led all scorers with 19 points. Nicolette Nelson, who also is listed at 6-2, added 15 points.

So what do the Eddies need to push them over the top?

“I think being young we need to learn how to finish,” Markel said. “We have to be a second-half team. We play hard. We just have to figure out the right moves and the right spots to be on the floor.”