CASSOPOLIS — Cassopolis’ opponent showed up to win a battle that was more than just basketball Tuesday night.

As part of Centreville High School’s pink week, the team showed up in all pink uniforms and pink warm-up shirts matched by fans in the crowd. The phrase, “Never give up” was sprawled on the front.

In solidarity, Ranger Lizzy Ocampo wore a pink hair scrunch in her ponytail.

On the court, the Bulldogs (13-0) remained undefeated after dominating Cassopolis in a 44-12 Southwest 10 Conference victory.

In the first two minutes of basketball, the Rangers showed promise in defending against Centreville’s 6-foot-1 center Joanna Larsen.  However, she flipped a switch, and the Cassopolis defense faded away.

“Everything faded away,” said Cassopolis Head Coach Janice Gatson following her team’s loss.

Larsen, a senior and all-state athlete in three sports, ended the night with seven rebounds and three steals against a slow Cassopolis basketball team. She also led Centreville with a team-high 17 points.

Adding to the Rangers’ defensive woes was Larsen’s 6-foot-3 teammate Paige Walton. The pair outrebounded and outshot the Rangers from the post.

“We didn’t show up to play tonight,” Gatson said. “I don’t know what was wrong with us.”

Tuesday night marked the second meeting of the season between the Southwest 10 Conference teams. In a Dec. 17 game, Cassopolis fell to Centreville 27-57.

“We played [Centreville] away, and we were a little intimidated,” Gatson said. “Coming into tonight, we’ve been playing good basketball. I give credit to Centreville. They are a great team. They did them, and we didn’t play. You [have]got to come out and be competitive. We weren’t even competing tonight.”

Throughout the game, Gatson tried switching around her point guards and looking to ignite a spark, but failed to ignite the offense.

The Rangers were led by sophomore Jadin Wolfe, who ended the night with five points, followed by junior Madison King, who added four. Sophomore Zaniya Dodd added Cassopolis’ other three points onto the scoreboard.

Wolfe and Dodd are the only sophomores on the girls varsity team, and are usually starters, Gatson said. She has been impressed with their improvement this season.

This season, Gatson said her team has focused on its offense, defense, closing out, rebounding and communication. She said the group would continue to work on the fundamentals as they prepare for the remaining six games of the season.

Cassopolis’ leading scorer, Angel Gary, was held scoreless by the Bulldogs. Gary entered the game averaging 17.7 points per game, second-best in southwest Michigan.

After noticing something was off with her team on Tuesday night, Gatson said her game plan is to regroup and come out as a whole different team for their next game against Bangor Thursday.