The Collinsville girls basketball team jumped out to a big first quarter lead and cruised to a 52-31 victory over O’Fallon Thursday in Southwestern Conference play at Vergil Fletcher Gym.

Aubreeney Brady attempts a shot against O’Fallon / Photo by Roger Starkey

Despite the large margin of victory, the Lady Kahoks put a scare into their fan base with a miserable second quarter and difficult beginning to the third quarter. Collinsville’s 11-point lead after one quarter nearly evaporated in the second and O’Fallon rallied to take a lead in the third quarter, before Collinsville put the game out of reach.

Leading by 16-5 after one quarter, Collinsville (4-6 SWC, 8-11) managed only two second-quarter points, on free throws by Aubreeney Brady. The Lady Kahoks had more turnovers (9) than shot attempts (5) in the frame. O’Fallon (3-7 SWC, 10-10) was only 1-4 from the floor in the first quarter, before bouncing back to shoot 5-10 in the second quarter.

Collinsville set the tone offensively and defensively in the first quarter. CHS Head Coach Lori Billy credited the fast start to a solid game plan. “We were going to pack it in,” Billy said. “We knew they had Butler who could shoot and we felt comfortable enough with our defense that we could get out on them.”

Aubreeney Brady’s defense made her coach look like a genius. Playing at the top of the zone defense, Brady disrupted the flow of the O’Fallon offense all evening. Brady routinely had her hands on the ball, tipping, deflecting or stealing it. She also dropped in 12 points for good measure.

The Lady Panthers were 10-31 (32 percent) from the floor in the game, including 5-18 from beyond the 3-point arc. After shooting 44 free throws in their first meeting with the Lady Kahoks this season, O’Fallon was only 6-13 from the charity stripe Thursday.

On offense, the Lady Kahoks continuously fed Kassidy Smith in the first quarter. Smith scored 11 of her game-high 16 points in the first. Billy said Smith was a key part of Collinsville’s offensive plan.

“We were trying to go inside on them, and she made it possible,” Billy said.

And then came second quarter, which almost proved disastrous. The Lady Panthers outscored Collinsville 12-5 in the quarter to pull within 18-17 at the half. Billy said her team had trouble maintaining its composure. “We kind of lost our brains,” Billy said.

After surviving the second quarter with the slimmest possible lead, Collinsville started the third with a basket, but managed only two more over the following four minutes. O’Fallon continued to take advantage of the Lady Kahoks struggles, grabbing a 25-24 lead with 3 minute 15 seconds remaining in the third.

The game was tied at 26 with 2:57 to go in the third when Collinsville went on an 11-0 run to end the quarter and open the fourth. Carlee Mahan began and ended the rally with 3-point baskets.

O’Fallon trailed by nine when Caitlyn Brombolich fed Gabby Morgan over the top of the defense for an open layup to boost the Lady Kahoks lead to 42-31. Collinsville scored the next 10 points to end the game on a 12-0 run.

Morgan scored all eight of her points in the second half. Billy said Morgan got herself in position to score. “We kept telling Gabby, ‘get in behind them and we’re going to get you the ball.'”

Brombolich had a several nice passes into the post to help the Lady Kahoks establish the interior game. “She sees the floor really well,” Billy said.

The win avenged an 18-piont loss at O’Fallon on Dec. 12. “We’re a different team now then we were in December,” Billy said.

The Collinsville scorers were: Smith-16, Brady-12, Morgan-8, Mahan-7, Scheiter-6, Buettner-3

The Lady Kahoks travel to Mascoutah for a 7:30 p.m. game Saturday.

Prior to the game, the junior varsity Lady Kahoks downed O’Fallon 47-22.

The Collinsville JV scorers were: Morgan-13, Fischer-8, Liljegren-5, Giacoletto-5, Kress-4, Mahan-4, Rukavina-3, Burgess-3, Frerker-2