If you turn the ball over, you're going to lose.
It's as true in basketball as it is in football, and the Chatham Lady Cougars proved the dictum on Saturday evening as they rolled over Morristown, 48-31, in the first round of the Cougar Classic at Chatham High School.
Chatham's press defense proved effective as the Lady Cougars were able to force over 25 turnovers. Sophomore guard Amanda Berntsen led all scorers with 23 points.
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The score, while somewhat close, doesn't depict how dominant Chatham really was.
Chatham held Morristown to just 10 points in the first half and showed the same dominance for much of the second half.
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"It wasn't one of our cleanest performances, but we did what we needed to do to win the game," said Head Coach Joe Gaba. "I thought we were a little sloppy, but you have to give Morristown credit for coming in and playing probably their best game of the year."
It wasn't until the third quarter that the Cougar offense really emerged.
"They took us out of some of the things that we normally do, but we finally settled in there in that third quarter and kind of just stretched out and put them away for good," Gaba said.
In that third quarter the Lady Cougars offense racked up 18 points and held Morristown to just seven as two high-arcing three-pointers by Berntsen keyed the offensive outburst in the quarter.
"She's a special player. At any moment she can go off and erupt like she did tonight and it's nice having that weapon when not every facet of your game is working, Gaba said of the sophomore guard. "Our inside game wasn't really working tonight, so she was able to step up on the outside."
In the fourth quarter, the offense continued its pace, but the defense seemed to let up a bit as Morristown totaled 14 points to make the blowout seem somewhat competitive.
Chatham's Caroline Murphy totaled 11 points, Kelsey Hart scored five and Kelsey Davies, Lauren Winschuh and Sam Kennedy each totaled four points in the win.
With the victory, Chatham moved to 3-0 on the year. Morristown fell to 0-2.
The Lady Cougars will host Columbia High School Tuesday night at Chatham as part of the Cougar Classic.
