By By JEFF FISHER / Dowagiac Daily News
EDWARDSBURG – The Cassopolis Rangers spoiled first-year Edwardsburg coach Diane Robertson's first game at home by scratching out the conference victory, thanks to 27 turnovers by the Eddies.
Cassopolis seized the lead right from the opening tip, and with aggressive defense and zone play, created numerous steals which led to easy points and ultimately to a 39-27 road victory.
The Lady Rangers (2-3, 2-0 LAC) made the Lady Eddies (2-3, 1-2 LAC) chase them the rest of the way.
Not that the visitors ever got a chance to put it in cruise control until the late stages of the fourth quarter.
"I'm not pleased by the way we played, we looked sloppy in spots, turned it on and off. If we want to be a contender in the Lakeland Conference we got to play hard-nosed basketball," Cassopolis coach Floyd Foston said. "I'm happy about the win and anytime you go on the road and get a LAC win you got to feel good. A win is a win."
Back-to-back steals by Cassopolis in the first quarter gave it an early 8-3 lead, which it would increase to a 10-4 lead in the second quarter.
The Lady Rangers watched their lead shrink, as Edwardsburg's Stephanie Koontz's steal would lead to a basket by Christina Hans, which was followed by a bucket by Lindsay Moellenberndt.
That bucket cut the Cassopolis lead to one-point, 11-10.
Cass' Michelle James' basket, plus a free throw, gave the Lady Rangers a 15-10 lead going into intermission.
The Lady Eddies would get it as close as five points coming out of halftime, 23-18.
"I told them at halftime that we were in the game. We have been really successful in the third quarter and I don't think we held our focus. I thought on offense we did nice things," Robertson said.
James' free throws late in the fourth quarter gave Cass it's first double-digit lead, 35-24, which would swell to 37-24 after a Dee Dee Hawkins bucket.
A late three-pointer by the Eddies' Julie Harness made it a 39-27 advantage before Cass ran the clock out.
"I don't think we had any intensity tonight, we played very timid and Cass did a great job of taking us out of our game. They used a lot of pressure that caused us to turn the ball over," Robertson said.
Hawkins paced the Rangers with 12 points and James had eight points. Chrissy Breisch dropped in eight points and Julie Harness added seven for the Lady Eddies.
"It's one game and the nice thing about our conference is you get to play everybody twice and we will get another shot at them," Robertson added.
That shot will be on Oct. 17 in Cassopolis.
The Eddies will now regroup and host St. Joseph in a non-conference game on Thursday, while the Rangers are at home against Brandywine.