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MARCELLUS — Following a slow start, Cassopolis exploded for 38 second-half points en route to a 53-27 win at Marcellus Tuesday in a Southwest 10 Conference girls’ basketball game.

The Lady Rangers are now 14-3 overall, including a 13-1 mark in the conference. Cassopolis remains a half-game ahead of White Pigeon for first place in the league standings.

Marcellus, meanwhile falls to 4-8 in league games and 4-10 overall.

Cassopolis Coach Stefon Luckey was pleased with his team’s effort especially after seeing his ballclub struggle in Monday’s 63-15 non-league loss at No. 2-ranked Niles Brandywine.

It took until the third quarter Tuesday for the Lady Rangers to find its offensive rythmn again.

“At halftime, we just told the kids to execute and slow things down. Tonight, a lot of our shots didn’t fall in the first half because we were rushing things a little bit. Our communication was much better in the last couple quarters, along with our intensity on defense,” Luckey said.

“I liked how we rotated and got in the right spots on the floor in the second half. We feel good about where we are at this point. The game we have coming up against Buchanan will show us where we are at going into districts.”

Cassopolis jumped out to a 12-6 lead after the opening eight minutes. The Lady Rangers then began to struggle at the offensive end and scored just three points in the second quarter.

Fortunately for Cassopolis, Marcellus had its own misfortunes when it had possession of the basketball.

Despite its problems shooting the basketball in the first half, Cassopolis managed to carry a 15-10 advantage into halftime over Marcellus.

After some encouraging words at halftime from Luckey and his coaching staff, Cassopolis outscored Marcellus 18-8 in the third and built itself a comfortable 33-18 lead entering the fourth quarter.

The Lady Rangers turned to its full-court pressure most of the second half. That pressure resulted in numerous turnovers by Marcellus that Cassopolis turned into points with easy layups.

Cassopolis kept up that same level of intensity at both ends during the fourth quarter. The Lady Rangers proceeded to outscore the Wildcats 20-9 in the final stanza to walk away with the easy win.

Atyanna Alford, the Southwestern Michigan College commit, was one of three Lady Rangers to reach double-digit scoring with 17 points.

“Atyanna is a good player for us and our other players are coming along nicely too like Ryley (Bowsher) and Janayla Franklin. Ryley really stepped it up tonight on defense,” Luckey said.

Nola Hawkins was next for Cassopolis with 12 points and Ella Smith produced 11. Bowsher contributed six for the Lady Rangers, who connected for 23 field-goal attempts, including two three pointers, and 5-of-11 at the free-throw stripe.

Marcellus, which made 12 field goals and 3-of-8 free-throw attempts, was led by Claire Flory’s eight points, while Ladora Bet Sargis and Sophia Affriseo chipped in six apiece and Olivia Hicks scored five points.

“In the second half, it was Cassopolis’ athleticism that took over the game. They play really good pressure defense. Our game plan was to slow things down and we were able to do that essentially in the first half. It’s difficult though to hold a team like that down all four quarters. Things kind’ve started getting away from us there in the third quarter,” said Marcellus Head Coach Luke Giddings.