By By SCOTT NOVAK / Niles Daily Star
CASSOPOLIS – A big second half comeback fell a little short Monday night as the Cassopolis girls' varsity basketball team dropped a 48-43 decision to visiting Lawton.
The Lady Rangers (0-3) trailed 30-6 with 3:48 to play in the first half before rallying to cut the lead to two points, 45-43, with 1:13 to play in the contest.
"I was very pleased with the effort, but we are taking way too long to get going," veteran Cassopolis coach Floyd Foston said. "It's tough to come back from that kind of deficit. We are working to get it together. Hopefully we can put a game together. We have to play for the entire 32 minutes."
Lawton jumped out to an 18-6 lead after one period of play as the Lady Rangers struggled at the offensive end of the floor.
The Lady Blue Devils slowly increased their lead to 30-6 before Cassopolis started to stage a comeback.
The Lady Rangers outscored Lawton 8-0 over the final three and a half minutes to cut the lead to 30-14 at the intermission.
Cassopolis continued to carve up the Lawton lead in the third quarter, as it held a 19-10 advantage in scoring.
The Lady Rangers got it down to 31-26 with 3:50 to go on a 3-pointer by sophomore Damonica Kelly.
The Lady Blue Devils held a 40-33 advantage heading into the final period.
Lawton continued to hold the Lady Rangers at bay in the fourth quarter, but Kelly cut the lead to two points (45-43) with just over a minute to play.
That would be as close as Cassopolis would get as Lawton junior Sierra Henley iced the game with a bucket with 46.5 ticks left on the clock.
Kelly led all scorers with 20 points, while Taira Williams had eight points and Tiffany Williams six points.
Lawton got 16 points from Henley and nine points from Ashley Turnage.
LAWTON 48
Megan Biggers 2 1-3 5; Summer Crockett 1 0-0 2; Kelsey Malone 2 0-0 4; Jill Tutten 0 2-2 2; Erica Brown 3 1-3 8; Ashley Johnson 3 3-8 9; Nicole Moss 1 0-0 2; Sierra Hevley 5 5-8 16. Totals: 17 12-24 48
CASSOPOLIS 43
Damonica Kelly 8 2-2 20; Tiffany Williams 1 4-4 6; Kenyah House 2 0-2 4; Taria Williams 4 0-0 8; Taleta Andrews 1 0-0 2; Victoria Robinson 1 1-2 3. Totals: 17 7-10 43
Lawton 18 12 10 8 – 48
Cassopolis 6 8 19 10 – 43
3-point baskets: Kelly (C) 2, Brown (L), Hevley (L). Total fouls: Lawton 13, Cassopolis 17. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: None