The Collinsville girls basketball team grabbed an early lead Tuesday in East St. Louis, let it slip away and then clawed back, before ending up on the wrong side of a 60-50 score.

A night after suffering a 58-point loss, the Lady Kahoks (0-2 Southwestern Conference, 2-4) put that memory behind them and ran out to a 16-10 first quarter lead. Junior forward Samantha Buettner scored six of her 13 points in the opening frame.

Samantha Buettner / Photo by Roger Starkey

The Lady Kahoks early defensive success was the result of a switch from their usual man-to-man to a zone, Head Coach Lori Billy said. “It took them out of their rhythm for a while,” Billy said. East St. Louis (1-0 SWC, 1-2) managed only one 3-pointer on the night and scored 19 of its points from the charity stripe.

The Flyers, however, put up 25 points in the second quarter, led by junior Brelanair Cox’s 11, and went into the half with a 35-31 edge. Cox led all scorers with 20.

Collinsville trailed by eight heading into the final quarter and used a pressing, trapping defense to pull within two at 52-50 late in the fourth. When the Lady Kahoks were forced to foul, the Flyers were equal to the challenge, draining 8 of 10 fourth quarter free throws. For the game, East St. Louis shot only 59% from the free throw line.

Billy was pleased with her team’s offensive effort, but not the number of offensive rebounds allowed. “We struggled defensively boxing out,” Billy said. “We’re going to spend a lot of time on that (in practice).”

Collinsville did not take full advantage of getting fouled 25 times, making just 19 of 33 free throw attempts (57.6 percent).

Junior guard Aubreeney Brady led the Lady Kahoks with 15 points. Senior guard Lexie Thompson scored 9, sophomore forward Kassidy Smith had 6 points. Scoring two points each for Collinsville were Brombolich, Frerker and Morgan. Beckley scored 1.

The Lady Kahoks travel to O’Fallon for a 7:30 contest Thursday.