By Staff
CASSOPOLIS – Too many turnovers and too much Ali Dawson spelled trouble for the Cassopolis girls' varsity basketball team in its season opener Monday night.
The Lady Rangers made physical and mental mistakes early on and Galesburg-Augusta's Dawson scored 27 points in a 58-45 non-conference victory for the Lady Rams.
The game was a rematch of the Class C regional championship game from last season.
Veteran Cass coach Floyd Foston knew Galesburg-Augusta would come in hunger for a victory and was hoping his team would play better.
"We many too many mistakes early on," he said. "We knew Dawson was their best player and that they had six to eight kids back from last year. We got down early and we had some kids quite on us. Galesburg is a good team, but they are not 15 points better than we are.
"We are basically a young team, not grade wise, but in experience," Foston continued. "We are going to be a work in progress. But we are going to get better."
Galesburg-Augusta led 14-10 after one period of play and 31-23 at halftime.
The Lady Rams outscored the Lady Rangers 19-10 in the third quarter to open up a 50-33 advantage heading into the final eight minutes.
Cassopolis was able to cut the lead to 52-42 with 4:32 to play in the contest on a 3-pointer by Taira Williams, but would get no closer.
Besides Dawson's game-high point total, Katlyn Born had 12 points for the Lady Rams.
Williams led the Lady Rangers with 14 points. Michelle James finished with 11 and Kenya House nine points.
The Lady Rangers are back in action on Friday night as they travel to Niles to face Brandywine.