HAMILTON — Gracie Cosgrove had no clue about the possibility of her reaching another milestone. The Badin High School senior forward just wanted to win Wednesday night.
“I really don’t ever want to know any of that stuff,” Cosgrove said. “I get all nervous about it, so I just don’t even want to focus on it.”
Cosgrove moved into fourth place on Badin’s all-time girls basketball scoring list, and the Rams defeated the Fenwick Falcons 62-42 in Greater Catholic League Coed Division play at Mulcahey Gym.
Cosgrove tallied 21 points as she passed 2008 graduate Lizzie Sunderhaus on the Badin list. Cosgrove now has 1,088 points, passing Sunderhaus, who scored 1,081 in her Badin career.
Cosgrove sunk five 3-pointers and two three-point plays for Badin, which won its fifth straight game to improve to 9-3 overall and 4-2 in the GCL Coed.
Badin junior guard Braelyn Even led the Rams with 23 points, and she passed the 900-point mark for her career on Wednesday night.
“Honestly, I try not to get caught up in that,” Rams coach Tom Sunderman said. “I look at the energy. In fact, somebody told me a little bit ago that Braelyn had 12 steals tonight. That right there doesn’t shock me. Those are the things you’re looking for.
“The deeper we can get with our bench, the better we can make a run. That’s what it’s all about. It’s a team game, and our kids know that. They’re going to enjoy their individual milestones, but first and foremost, they’re not going to enjoy it if it comes on a loss.”
Badin brought in momentum from its 61-47 win over conference leader Chaminade Julienne on Saturday — which handed the Eagles their only loss.
“You can’t win a big game against CJ and then turn around and lose a game you’re supposed to win,” Sunderman said.
“But we know they’re going to come out and play hard,” Sunderman added of Fenwick, which is led by first-year coach Kami Luers. “That’s the biggest thing for her is they play hard. She’s got that energy back in Fenwick.”
The Falcons got 17 points from freshman center Lucy Luers. Fenwick slipped to 3-7 overall and 0-6 in the GCL Coed.
“Our girls are playing with a lot of heart, and they gave great effort out there. We just had too many turnovers,” said Kami Luers, whose squad gave the ball up 24 times in the first half against Badin’s full-court press. “You’re not going to win a lot of games like that. So that’s going to be tough.
“We had been working on pressure passing and trying to put the girls in situations where they do have to make better decisions — and just being comfortable with that. That’s not super easy to do in such a short period of time. The girls who can handle the pressure, they’ve been doing it for a long time. But I think we’re progressing well. The turnovers won’t show it, but I see some improvement.”
The Falcons led 12-11 in the first quarter before the Rams closed out the opening period with a 13-1 run to grab a 24-13 lead.
Badin’s full-court defense was too much for Fenwick to handle the rest of the way, as the Rams led 42-23 at the half and 58-30 heading into the fourth quarter.
Blake Sakach had six points for Badin, while Maddie Snow added five. Natalie DeMarco had 11 points for Fenwick, and Caroline Hathaway added seven.
Both teams return to GCL Coed Division play Saturday afternoon. Badin is at Carroll while Fenwick hosts Alter, with both games set for 1:30 p.m. tips.
