Cavs contain Cards

COLDWATER - All Coldwater coach Connie May wanted for Christmas was a healthy roster.

May got her Christmas wish - and the Cavaliers have gifted her with 11 straight wins since Dec. 27.

The latest came on Thursday night as Coldwater took down previously state-ranked New Bremen by a score of 45-34 at the Palace to extend the streak.

"Once we got the whole crew back and once we had our nine players that we could rotate as we needed, that was huge," May said. "After Christmas was when everything started to come together, and plus the schedule has changed a little bit."

The Cavs, who started the season 3-5, improved to 14-5 and 5-3 in Midwest Athletic Conference play. The Cardinals fell to 14-4 and 3-4 in MAC play.

"That's a pretty good ball team," New Bremen coach Chris Burden said. "When you can rattle off 11 wins in a row, you're a pretty good team. I knew coming into the season that they could be very, very good. They struggled early on the season, but they've picked it up here in the second half of the year."

Olivia Harlamert's scoring binge and ball-hounding full-court pressure had the Cavaliers well in control by halftime.

Harlamert hit two three-pointers in the first quarter and they led by as much as eight before settling for a 14-9 lead by the end.

Coldwater's was up to 25-13 by halftime.

Harlamert added another triple early in the second and then connected on a layup through contact. Katie Alig came off the bench to score four points, and the Cavs full-court defense had the Cardinals constantly sped up and out of sorts. New Bremen committed 11 turnovers in the first half and shot 6-of-25.

"It was just a matter of not executing," Burden said. "On film, we saw that they played 1-2-2 and sometimes man-to-man, but it was kind of a guessing game in terms of what they were going to come out and play. We prepared for both. We just didn't execute on the offensive end. We made too many turnovers and that got us."

Jane Homan scored six points and Kelly Naylor knocked down a 3 as part of a 9-2 run in the first four minutes of the third quarter that reduced the New Bremen deficit to five. The Cavs would re-extend their lead to double digits, but a steal and bucket by Hannah Tenkman just before time expired in the quarter made it 33-25.

But New Bremen could get no closer.

Coldwater went on a 6-0 run to launch the fourth. New Bremen tallied four turnovers in the first 21/2 minutes and never got the deficit down to double digits from that point on.

"I think our defense is definitely what carried us tonight," May said. "We didn't really shoot or finish well. I thought that we were definitely a little out of sync on the offensive end. But on the defensive end, we were able to get deflections and we stayed active. I think we're getting better defensively, but we've got to keep communicating. Communication is a huge part of it and we're starting to get there."

Harlamert finished with a game-high 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting and 3-of-8 from deep. Kourtney Diller had eight points, Lauren Gilliland totaled eight points and eight rebounds and Maura Hoying added six points and nine boards.

"You look at us and you never know who it's going to be," May said. "Is it going to be Liv? Is it going to be Kourtney? Or is it going to be Maura? That's kind of a nice thing. You've got Lauren out there, too. Thank goodness (Harlamert) did carry us because the rest of us weren't hitting much. That's a blessing to have that."

Homan scored a team-high 13 points for New Bremen, which finished the game with 22 turnovers.

Both teams are back in action on Tuesday. Coldwater hosts Wapakoneta and New Bremen travels to Spencerville.