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Coldwater's Avery Knapke (5) and Kiersten Keller (12) defend the shot of Botkins' Camdyn Paul (2) during the girls basketball season opener for the teams at the Palace on Saturday night.
COLDWATER - After playing well enough to lead at halftime, turnovers finally caught up to Coldwater in the 2023-24 girls basketball season opener against Botkins.
Coldwater matched their first-half turnover mark of 10 in the third quarter alone, allowing the Trojans to take the lead and pull away for the 37-30 victory on Saturday night at the Palace.
"Turnovers, missed shots, missed layups. We didn't shoot very well from the free throw line (2-of-8 in the final 16 minutes)," said Cavaliers coach Amy Meyer. "Credit to them. They played aggressive and made us speed up and make uncharacteristic turnovers, and it snowballed from there."
Botkins jumped to an early 6-2 lead on buckets from Delana Pitts, Jana Mets and Janel Platfoot in the first four minutes of the game. Coldwater started to find a groove as a Becca Wenning bucket and a Claire Steinke free throw cut it to 6-5, then Madison Wendel hit a 3-pointer with 22 seconds remaining in the quarter gave Coldwater the lead at 8-6.
Coldwater's Becca Wenning goes up for a layup against Botkins during Saturday's game at the Palace.
The Cavaliers spent the second quarter fending off the Trojans. Botkins got within a point at 10-9 and later 14-13 with under 30 seconds to play, but Steinke hit two free throws to make it 16-13 at the half.
The Trojans turned up the pressure in the second half, putting on a full-court press to hamper the Cavaliers' attempts to get the ball up the court, and it began to work as Botkins went on a 7-2 run to start the third quarter. Camdyn Paul tied the game up with a 3-pointer with 6:15 to play in the quarter, then half-a-minute later, Pitts got a bucket to fall to give Botkins the lead again.
The pressure led to each team reaching the five-foul mark of the quarter, which meant two-shot free throws for the remainder of the quarter under the new rule for high school basketball this season. Botkins connected on a few more than Coldwater, allowing the Trojans to expand the lead to 30-22 at the end of the quarter.
A pair of Pitts free throws gave Botkins a 10-point lead at 32-22 to start the final quarter, but the Trojans were unable to extend the margin more as Coldwater kept trying to bounce back. Five points was as close as the Cavaliers could get, as Botkins hit free throws down the stretch to stay ahead.
"Kudos to the girls to keep playing. They were working hard," said Meyer. "The big thing is you can't consistently turn the ball over and miss shots."
Coldwater shot 12-of-33 from the field and had 27 turnovers in the game.
Pitts finished with 16 for Botkins with Paul adding nine points.
Coldwater's Madison Wendel (14) looks for an open teammate during Saturday's game with Botkins.
Steinke led Coldwater with 16 points. Wendel had nine points and eight rebounds.
Coldwater is back in action on Tuesday with a short road trip to Celina to face the Bulldogs at the Fieldhouse. Botkins is also in action on Tuesday, hosting New Knoxville in another MAC vs. Shelby County League game.
