Collinsville had committed 20 turnovers and shot a meager 5 of 13 from the free throw line entering the fourth quarter Thursday, but trailed by only four in a Southwestern Conference matchup against Belleville West. And then things went terribly wrong.

Lexie Thompson / Photo by Roger Starkey

When Lexi Thompson drained a 3-pointer to start the quarter, it appeared the fans a Vergil Fletcher Gym were in for a dogfight. Instead, the wheels fell off for the Lady Kahoks as the Lady Maroons rallied for a 53-37 victory.

Collinsville (5-8 SWC, 9-13) committed turnovers on four consecutive possessions following the Thompson triple. Belleville West (10-4 SWC, 20-7) turned the turnover spree into a 6-2 run.

Still the Lady Kahoks only trailed by four when Aubreeney Brady made a free throw with 4 minutes 11 seconds remaining. The Lady Maroons then dialed up their shooting touch, making a free throw and three 3-pointers to start a rally that saw Collinsville outscored 14-2 the remainder of the game.

Collinsville Head Coach Lori Billy said the team succumbed in the final period because poor offensive execution forced the team to play too much defense.

“Offensively, we didn’t get into our sets the way we wanted to,” Billy said. So, we’d get a bad pass, a turnover or one pass and a bad shot, and then we’d have to go back and play defense.

Before the Lady Maroons late run, Collinsville’s defense had kept them in check, forcing 16 turnovers on the game and holding Belleville West to 39 points with four minutes to play.

The game started as a defensive battle, with neither team scoring until Samantha Buettner’s bucket with 5:35 remaining in the first quarter. The opening stanza also saw 15 combined turnovers compared with only nine combined field goals.

Belleville West used a 17-3 run to end the first half and begin the second to take the lead for good.

Imani Berry’s 22 points lead the Lady Maroons. Shay Fluker contributed 15 points.

Collinsville scorers were: Scheiter-9, Smith-8, Thompson-8, Buettner-5, Brady-5, Morgan 2

Prior the varsity game, the junior varsity Lady Kahoks thumped their Belleville West counterparts 62-18 to run their record to 14-5 on the season.

Scoring for the junior varsity team were: Mahan-12, Fischer-11, Morgan-11, Phinney-6, Kress-6, Liljegren-5, Rukavina-5, Frerker-4, Akin-2