Coldwater girls basketball avenges early season loss, takes down 8th ranked Northwest

JACKSON, MI. — Entering into competition Tuesday night the scrappy Coldwater Lady Cardinals had one single blemish on their stellar 2022-23 record, a razor thin nail biter of a loss back on Jan. 10 when they fell to Interstate 8 rival Northwest by the score of 50-46. Tuesday night the Cardinals traveled to Northwest looking to avenge that loss and possibly create a tie atop the Interstate 8 conference in the process.

Avenge that loss the Lady Cardinals did, taking down the Northwest Lady Mounties to improve to 16-1 overall and 9-1 in the Interstate 8 with a huge 57-51 victory.

The game was a back-and-forth affair from the opening tip, with both teams trading buckets throughout a fast and furious first quarter that saw Coldwater hold a slim 15-13 lead after one. Coldwater’s offense came thanks to a pair of triples and a bucket from Elli Anderson, a triple and a pair of free throws from Elli Foley, and a Mya Porter bucket.

The back and forth play continued into the second quarter, with Coldwater taking a very slim lead heading into the half at 30-26.

The second quarter was a big one for sophomore Elli Foley who scored 11 points in the stanza, including three triples and two free throws, with one of those three pointers coming from half court at the buzzer. Also adding to the Cardinal effort was Anderson and Porter with two points each.

“We played very well in the first half, but we had trouble containing Mara Mitchell’s penetration as she continually got to the basket and scored 12 points within four feet of the bucket,” said Coldwater head coach Ken Smoker. “We made the decision to back off her and make her score from the perimeter and it took away a lot of her effectiveness in the second quarter.”

Coldwater came roaring out of the halftime break, outscoring Northwest 6-2 over a four minute span to build a modest 36-28 lead with four minutes left in the quarter. Northwest answered in a big way, hitting on an 8-0 run thanks to four straight transition lay-ups off of turnovers to knot things up at 36-36. The Mounties went on to outscore the Cardinals 5-3 over the remaining four minutes to take a slim 41-39 lead after three quarters of play.

Coldwater’s third quarter effort was led by Elli Anderson with seven points and Rylie VanAken with a bucket.

“We had a great deal of momentum going into the third, but Northwest switched to a very good 1-3-1 half court zone and we simply made poor decisions in the our passing at the top of the zone, which led to lay-ups for them at the other end,” said Smoker. “I just told the girls to look at the scoreboard and see that we were in a one possession game against a really good team and we just needed to execute in the fourth quarter.”

The fourth quarter followed the same pattern as the rest of the game, as two quality teams battled in a true back-and-forth battle. Coldwater used a big triple and a field goal from VanAken, two buckets and a free throw from Coley Burkhardt and a Mya Porter triple to stay with the Mounties, eventually taking a one point lead with just under two minutes left in the game.

Northwest had only committed two second half fouls up to that point and were forced to foul the Cardinals in order to extend the game. When the Cardinals finally made it to the bonus the clutch shooting of Elli Foley and Mya Porter helped put the win away. Foley hit four straight free throws while Porter split a pair of shots from the charity stripe with 1.9 seconds left to secure the victory.

Sophomore Elli Foley put together a monster game to lead the Cardinals, scoring 20 points to go along with four rebounds, six assists and two steals.

Not to be outdone sophomore Elli Anderson added a season high 17 points to go along with four rebounds, two steals and two assists.

Also adding to the huge Coldwater victory was Mya Porter with eight points, six rebounds and six assists; Rylie VanAken with seven points, two assists and one rebound; and Coley Burkhardt with five points, eight rebounds and one assist.

“The girls really pulled together and got over the Northwest run in the third quarter and just continued to play hard and with confidence,” said Smoker. “I am very proud of the effort and their execution. The one thing I told them is that they need to come prepared to battle a tough Parma Western team on Friday or this win will be for naught.”

Entering the contest Northwest was ranked 8th in the Division 1 AP poll with a total of 38 votes while Coldwater had earned a total of four votes.

With the loss Northwest falls to 15-2 overall on the season and 9-1 in the Interstate 8. The Mounties will next see action on Friday when they host Lumen Christi.

With the win the Coldwater Cardinals improve to 16-1 overall on the season and 9-1 in the Interstate 8, creating a tie atop the conference standings with the Mounties. Coldwater will next see action Friday when they travel to face the Parma Western Lady Panthers (9-7 overall).

This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Coldwater girls basketball avenges early season loss, takes down 8th ranked Northwest