Rodney Parrett thinks he knows how many people expected his Ross girls basketball team to fare Wednesday night at undefeated Talawanda.

“I think people looked at their team and looked at our team and figured we’d lose by 30-plus,” the Rams coach said.

That’s why the former Talawanda coach was happy with losing by just 14 points, 49-35, in the Southwest Ohio Conference game against the Braves, who went into the game ranked seventh in the Associated Press Division II statewide poll.

Junior Sam Madden scored 10 points to lead Ross (6-7, 1-6), which trailed by as many as 23 early in the fourth quarter.

“We asked the girls to give us their heart for 32 minutes, and they poured it out,” Parrett said. “They played hard. We told them before the game, ‘That’s the No. 7 team in the state. Do you know how many teams there are? A lot. We have nothing to lose, so just relax and have fun.’”

Junior Ana Richter led SWOC-leading Talawanda (14-0, 7-0) with 18 points and a season-high 17 rebounds. Junior guard Megan Richardson scored 12 points and had six steals and senior guard Bristyl Webb added 11 points in what coach Kim Richter considered to be a wakeup call for the Braves.

“This game showed us things we need to work on,” the second-year coach said. “Ross is a good team. We need to cut down on turnovers, execute better and work a little bit on being better as a team. With that said, it’s a win. We will get better because of it.”

Talawanda never trailed after Richardson sank two free throws to snap a 4-4 tie with a 3:27 left in the first half. That sparked a 17-1 run during which Ross was held without a field goal for 8:37 before Rams freshman Ashley Parrett connected with 3:15 left in the first half.

Talawanda is scheduled to return to action at 3 p.m. Saturday with a SWOC game against Mt. Healthy, part of a girls-boys doubleheader against the Fighting Owls. The boys are scheduled to play their varsity game at 7 p.m.

Ross, which went into Wednesday’s game sixth in the SWOC, one game ahead of Northwest, is scheduled to play the Knights at Ross at 2:30 p.m.