FAIRFIELD — Gracie Cosgrove was fresh off hitting the 1,000-point mark for her high school basketball career.
The Badin senior sharpshooter added to the milestone Friday night.
Cosgrove scored 32 points — including six 3-pointers — to lead the Rams past the Fairfield Indians 67-31 in the 2024 Butler County Backyard Bash at Fairfield Arena.
Badin (6-3), which lost to Carroll and Alter earlier this month, has won three of its last four.
“The last two weeks, I’ve seen a lot of progress, and it starts with our practice,” Rams coach Tom Sunderman said. “After we lost to Alter, I wasn’t upset. I was upset with the Carroll game — we were feuding with each other. But after that Alter game, I told them the next practice that I’m going to take the first seven games. I’m going to put it on me.
“We’re going to go back to being the aggressor on defense — do what we’ve done the last five to eight years,” Sunderman added. “We’re going to win or lose that way. But we’re going to get better at it and be known for what we are. Yeah, we made a lot of shots this game, but it came off our defense.”
Cosgrove, who recently became the ninth Badin girls basketball player to hit 1,000 points and is fifth on the school’s all-time scoring list, bucketed 22 of her points in the first half on Friday. The Rams led 42-23 heading into the half.
Braelyn Even chipped in with 13 points for Badin.
Fairfield (3-7) was led by Danielle Marsh’s nine points — all 3-point buckets. Lexi Hayes added eight.
The Indians bounced back with a 48-45 win over Seton on Saturday in the Holiday Hardwood Classic at Xavier University’s Cintas Center.
Other girls basketball results from the 2024 Butler County Backyard Bash:
HAMILTON 43, TALAWANDA 39
The Big Blue outscored the Brave 20-13 in the fourth quarter, which proved to be the decider.
Korrine Jones had nine points and nine rebounds for Hamilton (3-5), which has won two of its last three.
“For us this is huge,” Big Blue first-year coach Kimar Morris said. “I talked about celebrating the little things — like being able to go into the new year winning three games, and the program only won three games all year last year. So, we’re trying to get them excited about practicing to get better every day and just building it one block at a time and winning one quarter at a time.
“I think that was the difference tonight. We really put it together in the last quarter, defensively,” Morris added. “We were able to force some turnovers and capitalize on that, whereas the first three quarters, we had opportunities, we just missed so many layups. It was just easy stuff, and in the past, I think we would have hung our head. Today, I told them that I was proud of them — nobody pointed a finger at any point in time.
“They let me coach them hard, let me be on them, and nobody took it personal today.”
Talawanda’s Janna Cary led all scorers with 20 points. Grace Richardson had 10 points for the Brave (3-6), who have lost four straight.
MIDDLETOWN 40, MONROE 32
The Middies used a 14-2 run in the second half to pull away from the Hornets. Middletown outscored Monroe 28-15 in the final two quarters to win its second straight game.
“We’re trying to be a complete team in terms of our defensive mindset,” Middies coach Steven Roe said. “I knew we could press them to play that kind of style, but unfortunately, that’s what was necessary because we dug the hole that we put ourselves in.
“So, we went to our pressure game, and that obviously turned the momentum to put a limitation on their bench and not being able to settle. We wore them down in time.”
The Middies (5-4) have won five games before the new year for the first time since the 2015-2016 season when they started 8-4.
“I told them the other day, winning requires commitment, and it’s a four-quarter commitment,” Roe said. “That’s what we’re trying to get to. We might commit for two quarters, we might commit for three, but to really be able to pull out wins — especially in the GMC — you’ve got to commit to all four quarters.”
Kenya Benson scored 11 points for Middletown, while teammate Jamia Jones had 10 points and Leila Johnson brought down eight rebounds.
Monroe’s Emma Adolph had 14 points and 12 rebounds. Ryan Buskirk added 10 points. The Hornets (2-7) have lost six of their last seven.
WILLIAMSBURG 45, EDGEWOOD 11
The Wildcats outscored the Cougars 27-5 in the first half on the way to their 10th straight win.
Peyton Jones led Williamsburg (10-0) with nine points, while Maggie Carver had eight and Delaney Donohoo seven.
Rylee Manning had four points for Edgewood (1-9), which dropped its sixth straight game.
