Shot selection was the lesson this week for the Chaminade Julienne girls basketball team. Don’t settle for the first open shot, Eagles coach Mandy Myers told her team.

The Eagles, though, couldn’t help but disobey Myers’ orders against Badin on Saturday. CJ opened the game with three layups — all off steals in the opening minute — to set the tone in a 52-30 Girls Greater Cincinnati League victory.

“Hopefully our best offense is our defense,” Myers said. “That’s what we’re counting on, forcing teams into turnovers and getting easy points.”

Badin finished with 28 turnovers (unofficially) against a CJ team that used superior quickness to hold the Rams 23 points under their scoring average.

“It’s a matter of us coming out ready to play,” Badin assistant coach Nick Baltimore said. “We can tell them what (the opponent) is going to do, but you can’t really dictate into actually seeing it and experiencing it. Their quickness overwhelmed us.”

CJ senior Brittaney Jefferson scored 16 points, including four off those early turnovers, and sophomore Haleigh Shaw added 10 inside. The Eagles (9-4, 4-2 GGCL North) led 17-6 after one quarter and stretched it to 25-9 midway through the second. Badin (7-5, 4-2 GGCL Central) pulled to 29-19 on two of junior Torey Stang’s eight points to start the third but got no closer.

“We don’t have time to think about this,” Baltimore said. “We’ve got Mount Notre Dame come Monday so we don’t have time to dwell on this one. It’s something we have to fix at some point if we want to make a run in the tournament.”

Likewise, the Eagles don’t have time to savor this victory. CJ travels to Centerville on Monday for the first of five straight road games.

“We worked this week on being a smarter team,” Myers said. “Taking smarter shots. Not necessarily taking the first open shot but really reading the defense, seeing what they give us. We made strides today in that direction.”