Talawanda (17-4) trailed by four at halftime and was still searching for rhythm when coach Zach Stapleton challenged his team. The response came in waves — on the glass, at the free-throw line and finally on a clutch 3-pointer from Bella Cobb that flipped momentum for good.
“I think we started off a little shaky. We were a little nervous,” Stapleton said. “Badin’s got a history of kind of putting it on us here the last couple years, so I think that was a big part of that first quarter.
“We still struggled at the beginning of the second quarter, but we really started to get going there mid-second quarter. We made some adjustments at halftime defensively, and I thought we did a fantastic job on everyone.”
Cobb delivered 21 points and 19 rebounds, and Janna Cary added 16 points as the Brave closed the game on an 18-10 fourth-quarter surge. Blake Sakach added eight points and 10 rebounds for the Rams.
Talawanda limited Badin to 0-for-13 shooting from 3-point range and forced 26 turnovers, turning defense into enough offense to offset a 27 percent shooting night.
“They were 0-for from 3, which we kind of hoped for,” Stapleton said. “Cobb is a clutch player. She hit a huge 3. Our bench knows that’s going in — we’ve seen her do it a thousand times. She’s one that just elevates to the level. I’ve coached her since she was this tall.
“Janna Cary taking over the game, typical. They’re winners, they’re killers. They don’t flinch by any means.”
Badin (9-13) appeared in control late in the third quarter behind Even, who finished 11-of-19 from the field and scored 30 of the Rams’ 42 points. But foul trouble and missed opportunities at the line — 12-of-25 overall — allowed Talawanda to hang around until its closing push.
“I thought Even really just took over, got to the basket,” Stapleton said. “She’s really hard to stop in transition. Both teams got in foul trouble, so that made it hard for us matchup-wise, just size-wise, but the girls found a way to dig in and get it done.”
Badin had won six of the previous seven meetings in the series and captured the last two by a combined 92 points, but this time the Brave owned the final minutes.
Cobb scored 11 in the second half, Cary went 8-for-10 from the line down the stretch and Talawanda turned a one-point deficit late into a five-point lead it never surrendered.
“Give credit to Talawanda for having a great game plan,” Badin coach Tom Sunderman said. “It was the perfect storm having three girls with three fouls in the first quarter, our turnovers and missed free throws. We will be ready in two weeks when the tourney starts.”
Monday’s game could be a preview. If both teams win their Division III district openers, they’ll meet again Feb. 25 at Princeton.
For now, Talawanda turns its attention to closing the regular season at home Thursday against Monroe.
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