JAMESTOWN — Defense won the day in the latest Battle of 72.
Trailing heading into the final quarter, Cedarville held Greeneview to just two points and pulled away late for a 40-32 win on the road.
“That’s what really won the game for us is we found a group of all five girls that wanted to take pride in defense and get some stops,” Cedarville head coach Hailey Peters said.
Molly Mossing was dominant in the second half, scoring 19 of career-high 26 points for the Indians (4-1, 3-1). She had 11 of the 13 points for her squad in the fourth quarter to nearly single handily bring her team back on offense.
“She listened to what we asked her to do, which was to drive hard to the basket and go up strong,” Peters said. “She’s a very unselfish player. I’m super proud of her tonight.”
After leading at the break, Greeneview didn’t score for the first 4:30 minutes of the second half as Cedarville used a 7-0 to take the lead before a three by Hailey Fannin grabbed it back for the Rams.
Both teams traded baskets before Greeneview held a 30-27 lead after three quarters. From there, Mossing took over by scoring near the basket and racking up points at the free throw line to push Cedarville ahead.
Greeneview did not make a basket in the final quarter.
“Every game we’ve played just has gone one way or the other,” Greeneview head coach Vince Purpero said. “It hasn’t been that one team is that much better in our games. … What will be our question is how we keep our heads up and stay the course.”
Greeneview (1-4, 0-3) opened the game getting the majority of shot attempts and nothing to show for it on the scoreboard.
Purpero called an early timeout to settle his team and get things organized, which lead to a 6-0 run in the final 2:17 of the quarter to tie things up at eight after the first.
Both teams fired up shots from long range, but were unable to connect until Monet Vest knocked one in from the corner to tie the score at 15 late in the half. It was the start of an 8-0 fueled by turnovers and capped by two free throws from Fannin in the final seconds of the half to put the Rams up 20-18 at the break.
Fannin made her first career three-pointer on the way to a team-high 14 points for the Rams to open the second half scoring and keep her squad ahead.
Cedarville was able to clamp down, however, and get the rivalry victory.
“Once we decided to take pride in some defense and communicate, we got some big stops and were able to get some good points off drives and ended up playing really hard in the fourth quarter,” Peters said.
Cedarville next hosts Madison Plains on Saturday, while Greeneview will host Southeastern.
