Bath girls cruise past Coldwater

BATH TOWNSHIP - It didn't take much time Thursday for Coldwater to learn what makes the Bath girls basketball team so good. Except for a Cavaliers' advantage in rebounding, the Wildkittens dominated every facet of their 71-43 romp.

It's easy to trail the Wildkittens (3-0), and so hard to make a comeback, when they trade their 3-pointers for 2-point goals. Bath made 12 of 29 (41 percent) from behind the arc against Coldwater.

Last year, the Wildkittens made a state record 241 shots from 3-point distance. After three games, they have 33.

"They are a beast to be reckoned with," Coldwater coach Nick Fisher said. "Some of us came up Friday watched them play (Delphos) St. John's (a 75-45 Bath win), so we knew coming in kind of what we were in for."

But with every team having the same scouting report, everyone is geared to stop the Bath 3-pointers. So, coach Greg Mauk is stressing the importance of getting the ball in the paint for what becomes easy 2-pointers.

"Every team comes out and really tries to guard that 3-point line, and I think we're getting pretty effective on being able to attack inside on some defense that we haven't been able to in the past," Mauk said. "That really opened up a lot of stuff for us (Thursday)."

The Wildcats aren't just an offensive juggernaut, though. They bring the same intensity to their full-court press and half-court trap; the Cavaliers fumbled into 24 turnovers that turned into 30 points.

"We were extremely quick on the floor defensively. I thought we got to a lot balls and deflected a lot of passes," Mauk said. "We played our half-court defense as well as we have yet."

Three players reached double figures for Bath - Rachel Mauk (20 points, 4 of 7 from 3-point distance), Stefanie Mauk (15 points) and Nicki Hopkins (12 points, 4 of 6 3-pointers in the second and third quarters).

With backups and reserves manning the floor for Bath in much of the second half, 10 players scored.

Coldwater led 4-3 midway through the opening quarter, but a pair of 3-pointers from the top of the key by the Mauk sisters gave Bath the lead to stay.

Between the second quarter and the first 6:21 of the third, Coldwater scored seven points. Meanwhile, Bath reeled off 40 points.

For their part, the Cavaliers didn't completely fall on their face in the season opener. Despite trailing 62-26 entering the fourth quarter, Coldwater outscored Bath 17-9 in the fourth.

Kara Uhlenhake led Coldwater (0-1) with nine points and 12 rebounds; she scored eight points in the fourth and grabbed eight boards in the second half. The Cavaliers out-rebounded Bath 44-30.

"Kara works extremely hard. She's been a little banged up, so she's just working her way back in," Fisher said. "There's no die in her, either. ... For the most part, our team played extremely hard."