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Talawanda girls breeze by Edgewood for the win

First-year coach says Braves are aggressive and ready to learn.

Talawanda's Brilyn Webb and Edgewood's Haley Rutherford scramble for the ball during the first half on Saturday in Oxford. The Braves rebounded from a difficult loss to Fort Ancient Valley Conference West Division leader Winton Woods by throttling visiting Edgewood 60-47.

Staff photo by Gary Stelzer/MIDDLETOWN JOURNAL Talawanda's Brilyn Webb and Edgewood's Haley Rutherford scramble for the ball during the first half on Saturday in Oxford. The Braves rebounded from a difficult loss to Fort Ancient Valley Conference West Division leader Winton Woods by throttling visiting Edgewood 60-47.

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By Rick Cassano, Staff Writer Updated 2:56 PM Sunday, January 29, 2012

OXFORD — Perhaps it was the start of another winning streak for Talawanda High School’s girls basketball team.

The Braves rebounded from a difficult loss to Fort Ancient Valley Conference West Division leader Winton Woods by throttling visiting Edgewood 60-47 on Saturday afternoon.

It was the eighth win in nine games for Talawanda, which is 12-5 overall and 9-2 in the FAVC.

“We are increasingly getting better every game,” first-year Braves coach Kim Richter said. “They’re hungry. They’re aggressive. And, man, they’re ready to learn. It’s awesome to see them play together and really enjoy it.”

Caitlyn Calhoun (15), Ana Richter (14), Megan Richardson (13) and Bristyl Webb (11) all scored in double digits for Talawanda.

Richter snared 11 rebounds and Calhoun had six, and Webb added six assists and three steals.

“We’ve learned to go inside out,” Kim Richter said. “We always talk about one more pass, and that extra pass is getting us open shots.”

The Braves roared away from a 17-all deadlock, battering the Cougars (10-7, 5-6) with a 24-4 surge.

“Everybody’s coming together,” said Calhoun, a senior center. “When somebody’s not on, somebody else picks it up. We always have someone scoring.”

Talawanda took advantage of Edgewood’s persistent fouling by hitting 26-of-31 free throws. The Cougars weren’t bad at the line themselves, sinking all 14 of their attempts.

“I didn’t know that,” Edgewood coach Greg Brown said of his squad’s perfect effort at the charity stripe. “I do know they had 31 to our 14, which means we’re not moving our feet very well.”

The Braves entered the contest shooting 57.5 percent from the line.

“We’ve lost some games because of foul shots,” Kim Richter said. “We’ve worked really hard on it.”

Maura Hackney scored 12 points and Jenna Brown had 10 for the Cougars, who nearly got doubled on the boards. They committed 20 turnovers.

“We’ll learn from it and move on,” Greg Brown said.

“We just got outhustled today and didn’t play very smart. Talawanda’s very patient, and that’s going to beat a team that’s not playing smart.”

Talawanda only trails Winton Woods (9-1) in the FAVC West. Both of the Braves’ conference losses have come from the Warriors.

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