After losing its first three games of the season, the Edgewood girls basketball team took a modest two-game winning streak into its Southwest Ohio Conference matchup with undefeated Talawanda on Wednesday night.

But just when they were showing signs of getting their act together under first-year coach Andrea Swartz, the Cougars saw how far they still have to go. The visiting Braves blitzed Edgewood with a 21-0 run on their way to a 61-31 win at Edgewood.

“We’re coming along,” said Swartz, who has just two seniors on her roster and has been without projected starting point guard Jenna Brown for much of the season. “We’re still trying to figure out which groups play well together. We’re young. We’re trying to figure out who’s going to step up.”

Talawanda junior Ana Richter had a double-double, leading both teams with 22 points and 10 rebounds, while classmate Megan Richardson added 17 points for the Braves, who enjoyed their largest winning margin of the season.

“What I took from it was, from time to time, our intensity has wavered — quarter-to-quarter or game-to-game,” Talawanda coach Kim Richter said. “They didn’t allow it to waver tonight. They were consistent the whole game.”

Senior Maura Hackney scored 12 points to lead the Cougars, who committed 32 turnovers, according to Talawanda stats. That’s missing Brown, Swartz said.

“In the scrimmages, we were rolling,” she said. “They were doing everything we were asking. Right before the first game, we found out Jenna was going to miss a few days with chicken pox.”

She missed three before returning to help post win No. 1. She then suffered a knee injury, forcing Swartz into further experimentation.

Richardson and Richter each scored seven points in the first quarter, which ended with Talawanda leading, 23-2. Richardson scored the first bucket of the second quarter before sophomore Brittany Marts scored all five of her points to help the Cougars narrow the Braves’ lead to 31-13 by halftime.

Talawanda (7-0, 3-0) stays in the SWOC with a home game Saturday at 2:30 p.m. against Northwest. Edgewood (2-4, 1-2) is scheduled to host Little Miami in a SWOC game Saturday at 7:30 p.m.