Coldwater girls improve to 3-0 with dominant win over Sturgis

COLDWATER, MI. — The Coldwater Lady Cardinals used huge advantages in the first and third quarters to blow past the Sturgis Lady Trojans Tuesday night, improving to 3-0 on the season with a 55-21 victory.

“I thought we continued to play strong defensively tonight,” said Coldwater head coach Ken Smoker. “Last week I think we struggled to keep our focus in the fourth quarter and that was really what happened in the second quarter tonight. The coaching staff really challenged the girls to focus and take better shots and make better decisions. We really need to start developing better, winning habits. There were a few things going on in the second quarter that we are definitely not going to get away with against better teams. I think though we came back and did a much better job on both ends of the floor in the third and fourth quarters.”

Coldwater came roaring out of the gate out of the tip, racing out to a 9-0 lead with four minutes left in the first quarter thanks to buckets from Cara Miller, Coley Burkhardt, and Rylie VanAken, leading to a Sturgis timeout.

The Cardinals continued to roll out of the break starting with a steal and transition bucket from Burkhardt, followed by another bucket from VanAken, pushing the lead to 13-0 with 3:30 left in the quarter. The duo of Burkhardt and VanAken again traded buckets as the freshman duo was on fire early, extending the Cardinal lead to 17-0 with two minutes left in the quarter. Coldwater’s final points of the quarter came on a beautiful pass from Miller to Jaelah Sloan, giving the Cardinals a 19-0 lead with just under a minute to go in the quarter.

Sturgis was finally able to get on the board with :20 seconds left on the clock as Kennedy Finnerman hit a running floater that banked its way in, finding the first quarter score of 19-2.

Sturgis buckled down in the second quarter and took advantage of a number of miscues from the Cardinals to close the score ever so slightly. The Trojans opened up the quarter with a quick 5-0 run to force a Cardinal timeout by Coach Smoker. Coldwater struggled a little on the offensive end, forcing shots that they had not earlier in game, leading to some key turnovers in the Trojans favor. In all Sturgis ended up outscoring Coldwater 10-8 in the second quarter, closing the score to 27-12 heading into the half.

Coldwater made the necessary adjustments at the half and came out of the break on absolute fire. The Cardinals rode big quarters from Elli Foley, Burkhardt, and Mya Porter to go along with points from Sloan and Danika Cox as Coldwater outscored Sturgis 16-2 throughout the third to build a commanding 43-14 advantage heading to the fourth and final frame.

Coldwater continued to fine tune their play throughout the fourth, working hard on both ends of the floor while focusing on making good fundamental plays. A three from Foley along with four points from Burkhardt and four points from senior Kaitlyn Garcia, her first varsity points, led to Coldwater outscoring Sturgis 12-7 in the fourth quarter to find the final score of 55-21.

Coldwater was led on the night by freshman Coley Burkhardt who had her best game at the high school level, exploding for 21 points, eight rebounds, four steals and one assist to lead all scorers.

“Coley (Burkhardt) just plays so hard on both sides of the floor, her effort is tremendous,” said Smoker.

Freshman Rylie VanAken also had her best game at the varsity level in the early going, scoring nine points to go with four rebounds, four assists and four steals.

Sophomore Elli Foley also had a superb all around game, scoring nine points to go along with seven rebounds, two steals and one assist.

Also adding to the Coldwater effort was Mya Porter with four points, four rebounds, and two steals; Jaelah Sloan with four points, one assist and one steal; Kaitlyn Garcia with four points and two steals; Cara Miller with two points, two rebounds, two assists and three steals; Danika Cox with two points, one rebound and one steal; and Emma Porter with one assist and four steals.

Sturgis was led on the night by Keyana O’Tey who had six points while Kennedy Finnerman added five points.

“Starting Friday our level of competition is going to get much better with a trip to Hastings,” said Smoker. “What I like about this team is that they are a group of very competitive girls. Not only are they competitive in games, but they are just as compettive in practice with each other. I think they’ve really bought into the idea that how they practice against each other is going to dictate how they are going to be successful in a game. We are going to have to push each other hard in practice this week and be ready to go on Friday.”

With the loss Sturgis falls to 0-2 on the young season while Coldwater improves to 3-0 on the year with the victory. Coldwater will next see action Friday when they head to Hastings to open their Interstate 8 schedule.

This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Coldwater girls improve to 3-0 with dominant win over Sturgis